Looking for a trombone Options

[annet]

Our 10 year old son has been playing the trombone for about 18 months and has just passed Grade 3 with Distinction. His trombone has had several owners and is becoming slightly the worse for wear. When he started playing we thought it would be a passing phase (he already played the piano) but it's obvious that the trombone is here to stay. So he really needs a better quality trombone (his current one is a Michael) to take him to Grade 8. Does anyone have any recommendations? Our nearest music shop suggested that we'd need to pay ?1000 for a decent trombone (husband needed resusitation after that!!!) which does seem rather a lot, but we've no idea what price we'd need to pay. He has lessons at school and we don't have much contact with his teacher and, I suspect, he'd say that it's up to us to decide how much we want to pay.
What kind of price would we be looking at?
Many thanks.

[fsharpminor]

I once heard about a guy who had a rubber trombone, - he was looking for a rubber band (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Oops Sorry !! YOur thread reminded me about that one from my school day 50 yrs ago.

[andante]

I don't know anything about trombones, but my son is a french horn player and brass instruments are expensive. If you look on music shops websites they often split the instruments into three separate pages, beginner, intermediate, professional. You would be looking in the intermediate range I should think. You can find quite a lot of useful info from the websites of various shops, even if they are not local to you. Read reviews of the instruments, and gradually from the information given you will build up a bit of an idea what you are looking for. If you read on one page that a certain instrument has a feature you can then go and look at other instruments to see if they have that feature, or not, and try to work out if it is needed or a luxury.

My son's teacher recommended Paxman as a shop / make for horns, no idea if they do trombones.

If you google second hand trombones, the descriptions people put on the various listings can be quite informative about what you are looking for, even if you intend to buy new.

Good luck and have fun looking whilst your husband comes to terms with the hit is wallet is about to take!

[KixMusic]

Our 10 year old son has been playing the trombone for about 18 months and has just passed Grade 3 with Distinction. His trombone has had several owners and is becoming slightly the worse for wear. When he started playing we thought it would be a passing phase (he already played the piano) but it's obvious that the trombone is here to stay. So he really needs a better quality trombone (his current one is a Michael) to take him to Grade 8. Does anyone have any recommendations? Our nearest music shop suggested that we'd need to pay ?1000 for a decent trombone (husband needed resusitation after that!!!) which does seem rather a lot, but we've no idea what price we'd need to pay. He has lessons at school and we don't have much contact with his teacher and, I suspect, he'd say that it's up to us to decide how much we want to pay.
What kind of price would we be looking at?
Many thanks.

?1000 for a trombone to take him to Grade 8 and beyond is actually very reasonable. It's more likely to be in the region of ?1895 for a Conn 88H which are generally the most popular for that level of player.

However, I suspect that you may well need to buy a couple of trombones as he progresses as he is still growing - in time he may need a Bb/F trombone and for now that would most likely be too heavy. He does need to move off the Michael trombone though as they really aren't great.

Shop around for second hand trombones - Yamaha do a decent range of trombones (both Bb/F and Bb's) and are often on Ebay etc for a reasonable price. Alternatively if you just want to buy one to see him through completely you could keep an eye for a second hand Conn 88H.

I have a Yamaha Bousfield 681 that was my daughters for sale if you are interested. Pro level trombone, considerably less than ?1000. PM me if you are interested.

[boneman]

Your son is only 10 years old! I think you should stop thinking about getting him a pro instrument for quite a while.

Yamaha are great trombones and will do up to the middle grades. eg Yamaha Trombone for example.

If he gets to grade 5/6 then spend some time thinking about an up-grade. In the meantime save your hard-earned money towards the big day (if it arrives) and let your son enjoy playing the trombone in the many ensemles that the instrument is used in.

[Splog]

KixMusic - do you still have the trombone for sale? I am seriously considering upgrading my trombone.

[KixMusic]

KixMusic - do you still have the trombone for sale? I am seriously considering upgrading my trombone.

Yes, I do. PM me if you'd like

[SarahDoyle]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not looking for a trombone but we're looking for a baritone for a similar reason. He's currently loaned a music partnership one but a) it's not very good and b) we may well be moving out of the County soon so he'd have to give it back. He's only just passed G1 with Distinction but it's clear he loves the instrument and has no intention of giving up anytime soon. We've just gone on the list with Foulds Music shop in Derby for a rental instrument. This gives you the option of renting for a while and then having the option of buying the instrument with some of the rental cost taken off the purchase price.

I bought a second hand French Horn from Paxman over 20 years ago and it's still going strong!