Dual Use Trombone

A problem with step-up trombones is that the band director wants a .547” bore trombone with an F attachment in the concert band. When Johnny goes to the store to buy one he finds that he can’t play as high and often sounds worse for several months. And if he’s first chair in the jazz band, as often as not, he can’t even play the high parts on the new instrument. The W. Nirschl H-700LQ, H-879LQ and H-880LQ are the only trombones on the market with the patented Dual-Use mouthpipe system. Johnny can play the trombone with a tenor shank mouthpiece and the long tenor pipe and it will feel and respond like a small bore tenor. Later he can switch to the bass shank mouthpiece and the shorter pipe when he needs a bigger symphonic sound. Selling feature: He’s set to go out of the shoot. No loss of upper range and he still has a symphony bore tenor by just switching pipes when he is ready. Jim Beckel is the principal trombonist in the Indianapolis Symphony. He plays a Conn 88H/Greenhoe. I took him an H-700. When he tried the Tenor pipe he said “I’ve been looking all my life for the perfect Bolero trombone. I think this is it.” He found it gave him the upper register of a small bore tenor while retaining enough body in the low register. He used one all Summer for pops concerts and ultimately purchased an H-879. I first got the idea for the dual use trombone when working a NAMM show for a previous employer. The first-call trombonist in the Hollywood studios came by the booth I was working. He said he played a .491” bore trombone in the studio and was happy as a lark but when he played for John Williams, James Horner or Bruce Broughton, they went off sight to a big hall and played to just 2 microphones above the conductor to get the real sound of a big orchestra. The engineers weren’t getting enough trombone until he went out to his car and brought in his .547” bore trombone. Problem was he was still being given high parts. They still wanted to rehearse for three hours before recording and his ‘face was falling off’. I handed him a new .525/.547 dual bore slide from a new slide kit we had. He got his small shank mouthpiece, popped it in the big horn with the smaller dual bore slide. He said “This is going to save my butt.” I asked if I could repeat the story. “Why?” he queried. I told him about the typical high school kid who gets a .547” trombone to play in the concert band. Dad just paid $2K and expects to see it on stage that weekend at the jazz band concert but Johnny can’t play the parts on it. Mr. Hollywood said “This would be the answer! Get two slides!”
I never could get that company to package a trombone with two slides but years later, working now at Gemstone, I invented the Dual-Use trombone that accomplishes the same goal with a uniquely long venture tube.