I Can't Believe I Bought Another Horn.

[AwayWeGo]

Not Easy Flipping Horns When I Turn Potential Buyers On To Somebody Else's Horns.

Twice so far this summer, people have asked me about 1 of the outstanding French horns I'm currently offering on Craig's List. On my recommendation, both of those people are buying outstanding pro-converted Conn 6D horns from Lanstro instead of buying any of mine.

Nothing is wrong with my horns. The people whom I referred to Lanstro were thinking of having me ship a horn a long distance. I said I would not want to sell the horns they were asking about to anyone who had not personally tried them out & decided to buy them. By contrast, I would not hesitate to send an untried Lanstro pro-converted 6D to any horn player anywhere.

A Lanstro pro-converted Conn 6D is simply the best French horn for the money that it possible to buy anywhere. Comparable production horns from Holton or Conn or Yamaha, etc., would cost 3-4 times what Lanstro charges for an outstanding pro-converted Conn 6D.

I bought my Lanstro-Conn via eBay in January 2014 as a shot in the dark. Turned out to be comparable in playing qualities to my best "keeper" horns. So now it's a keeper also.

By E-Mail, I mentioned to the Lanstro proprietor that I have been sending recommendations & referrals his way. He thanked me for that & provided his telephone number (which I could not spot on the web site). He also mentioned that he now does Conn 6D pro-conversions only on order, because he now concentrates on making his own horns more or less from scratch. He said that the 45+ 6D pro-conversions he did were along the lines of preparing & gaining experience for building his own horns. More power to him.

Meanwhile, I am backlogged with 4 "rescue" French horns that are good to go (& advertised on Craig's List) plus seven -- 7 -- more horns waiting their turn 1 at a time for repairs. Also, 1 rescue horn has been at the repair shop about a month now & should be done before much longer.

The backlog does not keep me from looking at more horns, from making lowball offers, or from sending in eBay bids. It does, however, lower the amounts I'm willing to offer -- except for 1 of the horns awaiting repair for which I seriously overpaid, out of exuberance I suppose over a quick major horn flip at the time.

Mox nix. Sooner or later all the rescue horns will flip. If not, what's the harm ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

School Is In Session. Maybe The Horns Will Resume Flipping. (We'll See, Eh?)

Twice so far this summer, people have asked me about 1 of the outstanding French horns I'm currently offering on Craig's List.

School is now in session for the 2015-16 academic year, & (sure enough) interest in "rescue" French horns has started to pick up, just as The Chief Of Staff said it would.

Over the past weekend, I got 3 responses to my Craig's List ads from people asking about 3 different horns. I was away for the Labor Day weekend, however, so I was not able to follow through other than by promising to call when I got home to set up convenient times for people to come look at the horns. (I called. Left the people messages. Ball is in their court.)

I leave all musical instrument repair to the professionals, but I take on carrying-case rehab myself, as needed. One of my "rescue" horns is housed in a now-sturdy case that had flimsy hinges till I went to work on it, installing 2 recycled hinges salvaged off a smashed newer horn case.

Another horn case just needed a handle, so I bought a thrift-shop satchel for $1 & transplanted the handle off that onto the horn case. Works great. (New replacement handles cost lots more, even via eBay.)

Waste not, want not.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[ronandjoan]

We know you ll be helping a lot of kids. And we also know you have a lot of fun doing it!!!

 

[silentg]

I sent you the info on our company, for others interested, not a sales pitch
Just our website
www.firstchairbir.com
See us on facebook too
FirstChair Band Instrument Repair!
Silentg

 

[AwayWeGo]

Thank You.

I sent you the info on our company, for others interested, not a sales pitch
Just our website
www.firstchairbir.com
See us on facebook too
FirstChair Band Instrument Repair!
Silentg

Nice to have the information. Thanks.

Maybe we'll meet some time at 1st Chair headquarters in St. Cloud FL.

Thanks again.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[silentg]

That would be nice Alan!

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Bought The Ugliest Horn On eBay.

It's not all that ugly, just kind of garish because of the paint job -- base coat of gold & black, with red blotches here & there for texture, plus silver glitter paint on the leadpipe & outer valve caps & 1-2-3 valve levers. Not bad looking, but nonstandard for sure -- even semi-attractive in an odd kind of way.

You can see it via the eBay auction link, which will remain on the site for a while, then disappear.

Click here for the eBay "ugliest horn."

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Ugly Is In The Eye Of The Beholder.

It's not all that ugly, just kind of garish because of the paint job -- base coat of gold & black, with red blotches here & there for texture, plus silver glitter paint on the leadpipe & outer valve caps & 1-2-3 valve levers. Not bad looking, but nonstandard for sure -- even semi-attractive in an odd kind of way.

Before the end of the school year, a mom & her 11-year-old son came over to look at my "rescue" horns.

After trying the 3 horns I had on Craig's List, the boy showed no enthusiasm -- was lukewarm about all 3.

I said I had 1 more horn I could show him, an instrument which I had not put on Craig's List because I did not know how to advertise it. "When you see it, you'll know why," I said. That piqued their curiosity, so I brought out the oddly painted horn for the boy to try.

The boy tried the painted horn & quickly discovered that it sounded & played better than the 3 more conventional looking horns he tried earlier. His mother was unsure about the horn's looks, however, & quizzed the boy about whether he was positive he would not have a problem with the paint job.

"No," he said. "I kind of like it."

So we struck a deal for the ugly duckling horn, which not only equipped the boy with a decent instrument to learn on but also saved the family $300 or so by contrast with the other horns they had been considering (including mine).

Is this a great country or what ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[tschwa2]

Trombone recommendations

My 10 year old son is starting band this year playing the trombone. The student rental is being delivered to school on Monday. We are obligated for 3 months. I know nothing about musical instruments. Any recommendations for a brand or model that would be good for the first 2-3 years in the $200-$400 range?

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Used To Play Trombone. (But I Let That Slide.)

My 10 year old son is starting band this year playing the trombone. The student rental is being delivered to school on Monday. We are obligated for 3 months. I know nothing about musical instruments. Any recommendations for a brand or model that would be good for the first 2-3 years in the $200-$400 range?

The respected brands are Yamaha, Conn, Holton, King, Jupiter, Getzen, Olds, Bach, etc.

Unfortunately there are also lots of attractively priced trombones & other band instruments all over Amazon & eBay that are cheap junk even though they are brand new & look beautiful. Steer clear of those & stick with the quality brands.

Full Disclosure: I have an F.E. Olds trombone in your price range on Craig's List right now. If you're interested in that, send private message or E-Mail & I will send you the internet link for that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[tschwa2]

Thanks for the advice. We are taking the 3 month rental and see what my son thinks. Depending on how it goes, I might check with you in 2 months or so and see if you still have something.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Zombie Frankenstein French Horn !

The story is told on the internet at Mox Nix Blog . . .

https://moxnix.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/zombie-frankenstein-french-horn/

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Bought Amati Double Horn, Received King Single Horn. Next Up = Returna-Turna-Turna.

The FedEx Ground truck pulled up in the circle this morning, as expected. Inside the big carton left by the front door was the wrong horn. Sheesh.

When I called the eBay seller to complain that the wrong horn had just been delivered, he said he was expecting my call because the buyer of the King single horn had already called saying he received my Amati double horn by mistake yesterday.

So, the seller said he is going to E-Mail me his FedEx Ground account information plus the name & address of the guy who bought the King single horn. That way the King can go straight to its intended destination without detouring back through Lubbock TX.

Presumably something similar will be worked out at the other end to redirect the wayward Amati double horn to me. We'll see.

Oh, the eBay seller also said he'll refund the shipping cost I paid, just to compensate for the mix-up. We'll see about that too, eh?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA. ​

It happened again -- different seller & different brand names but the same kind of French horn shipping mistake by another eBay volume seller.

This time, after reaching agreement with seller on a "make offer" price, I bought a Buescher clone of Conn 6D (a 4-valve double horn). But the horn that was delivered today is a 3-valve C.G. Conn single horn.

Via eBay, I sent the seller a message about the mix-up, offering to send the horn I received to its intended recipient if the seller will cover the shipping cost & get the person who received my horn to send that 1 to me. That would involve less wasted motion than having both buyers return both horns to the seller for the seller to re-send, but it would also involve a certain amount of coordination, not to mention shipping payment by the eBay seller whose mistake caused the mix-up.

According to eBay, the seller has till June 23 to come up with a satisfactory resolution.

Meanwhile, I have more bent horns (mostly Conn 6Ds) lined up waiting their turns for French Horn Rescue on the repair technicians' workbenches.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

After 12 years (2006-2018), I'm into timeshares less & into French horns more. Who would ever have thought ?

Last night, I won the eBay bidding on a Yamaha YHR-666N (nickel-silver version of YHR-666), an exceptionally good instrument that was in Yamaha's catalog 1981-85 only, a time when the company was offering a wide selection of production models, apparently so the marketplace could narrow down which would remain available & which would be discontinued. Both versions of YHR-666 were dropped (despite or maybe because of their excellent playing characteristics -- better, by me, than 1 of their more expensive models still on the market). That makes any surviving YHR-666N a rarity for a production horn from a large company -- & it makes me a rare bird in my own way for now owning two -- 2 -- of them after last night's eBay win.

I bought my 1st YHR-666 in 1982 or so, new. Played it while my Alexander 103 was out of commission, resold it when I got my Alexander 103 back from restoration & custom modification.

When Osmun Brass offered their remaining stock of new YHR-666s on close-out, I bought 1 mainly because of the outstanding low price ($1,050 -- big bux back in 1985). I gave that horn to my younger son, who played it in high school band & eventually sold it to spend the proceeds on a rock & roll electronic keyboard instrument. (So it goes.)

Fast-forward to 2006. I spied a Yamaha YHR-666N on eBay -- 1st nickel-silver version I had even seen or heard of. (Far as I was aware, they were all conventional clear-lacquered yellow brass. Who knew?) I put in a bid for the seller's opening amount under the assumption I would soon be outbid. Instead, because that model had become unfamiliar even then, my minimum bid stood up & I bought the horn. The horn was -- is -- excellent. It quickly became 1 of my keepers, alongside the custom-modified Alexander 103 & 2-3 others.

Fast-forward again to last week. Another example of Yamaha YHR-666N turned up on eBay. I figured out my personal tipping point price -- the amount at which I would regret paying any more for it & simultaneously regret losing out if somebody else got it for that amount or less. I entered an automatic last-second bid for that at HidBid Dot Com & let it go. When the dust settled, I was the winning bidder -- at approximately $350 less than I was willing to go via HidBid. (Semi-interesting side note is that I have never seen a yellow brass Yamaha YHR-666 on eBay or Craig's List, only nickel-silver YHR-666N -- twice -- on eBay. And I bought both of'm. BTW, nickel-silver does not contain any real silver. Also called German silver, the alloy is basically silvery white brass, excellent for making French horns, etc.)

The dilemma now is what to do with the new YHR-666N once it gets here -- also what to do with the old YHR-666N, & how to explain to The Chief Of Staff why I need 2 Yamaha YHR-666N French horns. Once I figure out how to explain it to myself, explaining it to her will be a piece of cake.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Jan M.]

Alan, as long as you aren't into tubas and don't know or contact/respond to our son I won't have to hunt you down and hurt you. Lol.

Our son would be every bit as bad as you if he had the money. I purposely don't remember how many tubas I've paid for in addition to gig bags, cleaning and repair work. And I won't ever ask him because I would have to listen to the detailed list, description, how they played, who he bought them from, who he sold them to and how much he made on them. Our son is 31 years old and I am the easiest soft touch ever when he starts telling me about a tuba someone has for sale and what a great deal it is. I just paid for another one this year but told him that has to be the last one since my husband finally retired. He did offer to sell the one he already had to reimburse me for this one but I told him to hang onto it as they are both horns best suited to different purposes and he wouldn't be able to afford to replace it. I don't think he's ever actually fully paid for a single one he's had. Sometimes he just rolls the money he gets for selling one over into buying another one.

Our son sometimes plays at Christmas and Easter services for different churches and he gets paid for it. He plays in a local symphony too but that he doesn't get paid for.

 

[Jan M.]

Alan, I thought of you on Sunday. Our son drove his buddy from Olmsted Falls, OH to Rochester, NY, 278+ miles each way for his buddy to sell one of his tubas. Our son gets car sick very easily so he did all the driving. They stopped at Niagara Falls on the way back because his buddy had never seen the Falls. I don't know which one of them negotiated the sale but suspect our son likely had a hand in it. If you can't buy or sell one yourself, helping someone else is almost as good. Lol.

 

[AwayWeGo]

If you can't buy or sell one yourself, helping someone else is almost as good.

I agree.

A brass ensemble & concert band friend recently asked me to see if I can help his brother-in-law in Texas sell off a high-end French horn that the brother-in-law no longer plays. I sent the brother-in-law an E-Mail message with some suggestions -- now waiting to see what happens.

Now & then I spy an attractive horn on eBay or Craig's List that I think some of my horn playing friends might be interested in, so I forward the internet links to them. Last year, one of the link recipients pounced on a nice Holton Farkas horn that was exactly what she wanted to take on a long trip (so she could have a nice horn with her but leave her treasured Yamaha YHR-668 safe at home).

Later that same friend asked me to sell off her old cornet & a nice military bugle that she no longer wanted because she was downsizing before moving overseas. She wanted the proceeds from the cornet & bugle to go to the City Of Fairfax Band. So I took a bunch of nice pictures, advertised the instruments on Craig's List, negotiated with buyers, asked them to make their checks out to Fairfax Band, & sent the instruments -- win, win, win, win.

More recently, another Fairfax Band friend, who still works full-time, asked me to sell off her old & no longer loved Conn 6D. She knows I have some experience in flipping horns & I'm just an old retired guy with nothing to do & nowhere to go. I got some repairs done to the 6D, installed the horn in a newish carrying case I had on hand, took pictures, put it on Craig's List & on the French Horn Trader section of FaceBook, & pretty soon found a buyer for my friend's horn. After expenses (case upgrade, repairs, shipping, etc.), she ended up with way more than she was expecting.

That went so well that she later asked me to sell her grandfather's old Selmer (Paris) trumpet from the 1930s. It soon attracted a "make offer" buyer from Oklahoma who made an eBay offer acceptable to my friend, so that was another example of having fun by helping someone else sell an instrument.

I need another French horn like a rooster needs knee sox, but that doesn't keep me from scanning eBay & Craig's List regularly in search of another overlooked diamond in the rough.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

The high-end French horn sold for about double what the owner was expecting for it. New owner is a full-time professional horn player in a major city symphony orchestra.

Since then, a dozen or so other horns have been in & out of here, but it's not the same. The main problem has been the retirement & death of my go-to horn fixer, who was a gem. I tried others, with so-so results -- i.e., some fully successful repair projects & some others that did not turn out so well. Recently, however, I connected with a professional horn player & horn fixer who does superb work at reasonable cost (not cheap, but reasonable), & who meets me halfway between his suburban Baltimore MD location & my suburban Washington DC location.

The actual flipping of fully repaired horns is not at a standstill, but the activity remains sluggish by contrast with the pre-covid horn flipping heyday.

Meanwhile, my granddaughter in Florida (age 11½) signed up for beginning band camp. The camp leader recommended she start on alto saxophone. Fortunately her uncle (my son, who lives 1 mile from me) just happened to have a nice French-made F.E. Olds Parisienne alto saxophone in his instrument collection. He was willing to make that available, & even recorded a piece that he played on the Olds Parisienne to demonstrate how nice it sounds. (Very nice.)

To make sure the old alto sax was in top condition for a beginner, I took it over to a local wind instrument fixer (who has also fixed some French horns for me), a former saxophonist in the United States Marine Band ("The President's Own"). That was on a Wednesday. I explained that my granddaughter needed the instrument for band camp starting Monday morning. He said he'd do his best to turn it around quick, & got it back to me all good to go the next afternoon. I packed it up pronto & took it to FedEx, which scheduled it for home delivery in Florida by close of business Saturday. The package wasn't delivered till Sunday afternoon, but that was OK because it still got there in time for the start of band camp Monday morning.

Band camp lasted 2 weeks. My granddaughter loved it. She loves her alto saxophone. She loves playing her alto saxophone. She wants to continue with band camp if there's another session. She wants to start taking individual lessons on alto saxophone.

Papa Alan is so pleased with her enthusiasm & progress that I'm already looking ahead. If my granddaughter sticks with alto saxophone & gets good at it, there's no reason she has to limit herself to alto saxophone when she gets to high school band. If she wants to (as many saxophonists do), she can branch out to tenor saxophone (the next larger size saxophone after alto sax). Tenor sax might be a bit ungainly for a petite middle-schooler, but it should be manageable for an average to petite high school musician. Shux, if she really takes to saxophone & gets good, there's no reason she couldn't also play soprano saxophone & baritone saxophone if she wants.

In view of all that, I checked Craig's List & found what looked like an OK tenor saxophone at a giveaway price out in the Virginia countryside about an hour from here. I sent my sax-playing son a link to the ad. After viewing it, he told me at that price it was a good deal regardless of its condition. I made arrangements to go out & buy the tenor saxophone, & brought it home earlier this week. It turned out to be a complete & playable Selmer (USA) Bundy II tenor sax. My son tried it & liked it -- not as well as his own Selmer (Paris) Super Action 80 Series II tenor saxophone, but pretty well.

The plan is to keep the Selmer Bundy II tenor saxophone here & not even mention it to my granddaughter or her mother, but just to keep it on hand for the time when my granddaughter progresses musically & saxophonically to the point that she's ready to add tenor saxophone to her arsenal -- i.e., in a few years, if she stick with saxophone & becomes proficient. There's every reason to expect that she will progress, but there's no reason to distract a newbie alto saxophone beginner with an added tenor saxophone right now. Time takes time.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Granddaughter playing alto saxophone at the conclusion of summer band camp.

​

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[RX8]

@AwayWeGo Alan, have you given up buying more French Horns? Nothing since 2021?

 

[AwayWeGo]

@AwayWeGo Alan, have you given up buying more French Horns? Nothing since 2021?

The covid-19 school band shut-down put a major serious damper on flipping French horns.

Fortunately school & community bands are up & running once again, but flipping horns is still in the doldrums.

So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

If my granddaughter sticks with alto saxophone & gets good at it, there's no reason she has to limit herself to alto saxophone when she gets to high school band. If she wants to (as many saxophonists do), she can branch out to tenor saxophone (the next larger size saxophone after alto sax). Tenor sax might be a bit ungainly for a petite middle-schooler, but it should be manageable for an average to petite high school musician. Shux, if she really takes to saxophone & gets good, there's no reason she couldn't also play soprano saxophone & baritone saxophone if she wants.

Santa Claus gave my granddaughter a soprano saxophone last Christmas, to go with her alto & tenor saxophones. She took to it right away. She was invited to play the soprano sax in school orchestra as a substitute for oboe. (Apparently the orchestra is short 1 oboe payer.) Meanwhile, she tried out for county honor band, & made 1st chair tenor saxophone. In her own high school band, she plays 1st chair alto saxophone (in junior division band -- I assume the county honor band may also be junior division, because my granddaughter is a 14-year-old freshman.)

Without her knowledge, Papa Alan successfully went shopping for a baritone saxophone, the largest of the 4 most common saxophone sizes.

There are some problems already.

(1) The bari sax, although newish, is out of adjustment. It will need to go to the local saxophone fixer so it will play right. (That's OK. I used that issue as a bargaining point when haggling with the seller.)

(2) The instrument is large & heavy -- approximately 15 pounds for the bari sax by itself, double or triple that for its coffin-size carrying case. I will need to rig up something with wheels.

(3) The baritone saxophone is up here in Virginia while my granddaughter (who knows nothing about any of this) is in the Cape Canaveral area of the Florida east coast (Brevard County). Getting the instrument from here to there is going to be a hassle. It's too fragile for UPS or FedEx Ground. Ditto for airline checked baggage. It appears to me that I'll have to stow the bari sax in the family station wagon & drive it to Florida myself. We'll see.

Even though I am no longer buying French horns, I managed to flip 2 that I'd had on hand for a while. Those will cover the cost of the bari sax plus adjustment repairs, with a little left over.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[b2bailey]

You and your granddaughter are Blessed beyond measure to share this talent /gift.
Are others in your family musically inclined?

As for the newest horn, it seems you will have plenty of time to work out the delivery details.

What is the total number in your collection?

 

[ronandjoan]

Santa Claus gave my granddaughter a soprano saxophone last Christmas, to go with her alto & tenor saxophones. She took to it right away. She was invited to play the soprano sax in school orchestra as a substitute for oboe. (Apparently the orchestra is short 1 oboe payer.) Meanwhile, she tried out for county honor band, & made 1st chair tenor saxophone. In her own high school band, she plays 1st chair alto saxophone (in junior division band -- I assume the county honor band may also be junior division, because my granddaughter is a 14-year-old freshman.)

Without her knowledge, Papa Alan successfully went shopping for a baritone saxophone, the largest of the 4 most common saxophone sizes.

View attachment 90839​

There are some problems already.

(1) The bari sax, although newish, is out of adjustment. It will need to go to the local saxophone fixer so it will play right. (That's OK. I used that issue as a bargaining point when haggling with the seller.)

(2) The instrument is large & heavy -- approximately 15 pounds for the bari sax by itself, double or triple that for its coffin-size carrying case. I will need to rig up something with wheels.

(3) The baritone saxophone is up here in Virginia while my granddaughter (who knows nothing about any of this) is in the Cape Canaveral area of the Florida east coast (Brevard County). Getting the instrument from here to there is going to be a hassle. It's too fragile for UPS or FedEx Ground. Ditto for airline checked baggage. It appears to me that I'll have to stow the bari sax in the family station wagon & drive it to Florida myself. We'll see.

Even though I am no longer buying French horns, I managed to flip 2 that I'd had on hand for a while. Those will cover the cost of the bari sax plus adjustment repairs, with a little left over.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Great for your granddaughter. Bari sax is a good Instrument to be a specialist in too. I’ve seen several gals carry one around!!