Has anyone ever tried one of those cheapies you find on Ebay for between 25 - 40 pounds? They're made in India and postage costs more than the trumpet!
How do they play? Does the low price really reflect the quality?

Steve

Short answer, yes, the price really DOES reflect the quality. Pay a little more and get a chinese one, at least they play untl they break!

Liz

I wouldnt touch the trumpets coming from India as alot dont even sound when they arrive so my son's teacher has informed me.

Ebay is excellent for buying instruments especially if you stick to good brands such as Yamahas for trumpets.

I got a recent bargain a Yamaha 4335 for £150 hardly used I think the RRP is nearly £500 but you need to know what you are looking for....

There are a few today that are in UK that are cheap that look ok, there is one particularly that has Buy It Now that is under £40 but doesnt say what make but was bought from a music shop

are you a beginner?

QUOTE

are you a beginner?

No. It's just that I'm aware that cheap does not always mean bad. The average wage in India is much lower than in Europe but that doesn't mean there aren't people who take a pride in their work or who want their company to establish a niche in the market.

My father was a salesman, businessman, then director who taught me a lot about marketing and how prices are fixed. Prices do not reflect the true cost of production. They reflect what the company believes the market will bear. Thus a product may cost 10 pounds, but if it has a certain reputation and not much competition, it may be sold for 100 pounds, whereas in another region, they may decide to ask 50 pounds.

For example, I lived in France for 9 years, and the Rover cars were considered really cheap and poor quality, whereas in the UK, they had a different image. They 'were' cheap in France! Same with Stella lager, marketed in the UK as 'something special', in France, well, just another beer!

Another good example is the Hanson company in the UK who make and sell very nice clarinets at a much lower price than Buffet, Leblanc, Selmer etc.

The market is a strange place. People do PhDs in marketing, demonstrating how product name, advertising, snobbery, peer pressure etc are important factors in advertising and deciding the price of a product.

It's important to keep an open mind.

Steve

I agree with what you are saying stevensfo about cheap does not always mean bad.

Chinese violins are often thought of as cheap and nasty sounding but nowadays some sound very good indeed.

But it is very difficult to say whether the trumpets from India are consistent in quality for price. Some maybe very good but alot arent. I think the one they are exporting is called the Tristar and there are some Uk shops and some on ebay that have been sold on for a higher price. I never looked at them after someone said that there's didnt work when it arrived.

I stuck with a Yamaha. I dont have the money to get cheap one and find it is not up to standard and then have the time or money to buy another.

QUOTE

I stuck with a Yamaha. I dont have the money to get cheap one and find it is not up to standard and then have the time or money to buy another.

You're probably right. It's funny how Yamaha crops up so much. I've heard the same thing said about their saxophones and clarinets.

I recently bought a 20 year-old old Yamaha YAS23 sax from Ebay and love it! I need to replace a few pads and check a spring, but it plays sooooo well!

Steve

I got my son's Yamaha 4335 from ebay too.

I love the YAS23 I have one too, I got it new nearly 14 years ago and played it for a couple of years at uni. and I just dont find the time to play now I have had kids. Hoping that one of the kids will learn it eventually:)

I just bought an Indian trumpet off eBay UK and it's not bad at all. The brand name is "TRISTAR".
You should only be careful when you buy from India, as a lot of the trumpets you find are unbranded, but "TRISTAR" seems to have extremely happy customers and a near perfect positive feedback rating as well.

I spoke to a friend (who knows a bit about music and he has spent a year posted in India on his job) and he told me that if you can buy from the right manufacturer, then India is a very good source, good quality and good price! And if you are considering trumpets, then some of you will be surprised to know (and so was I) that the Boosey & Hawkes "Besson" brand of trumpets and other brass instruments are infact manufactured by them in India!

So if you are looking for an economy trumpet, I suggest that you look at the TRISTAR ones. You may also find some other decent brands, all you need to do is look at the sellers feedback I guess. If the seller has a feedback higher than 99% positive, then it probably means he is good.

You can see the TRISTAR store on
http://stores.ebay.com/tristarmusic

Want to see other trumpets on eBay, you can check them on
http://instruments.listings.ebay.com/Trump...ListingItemList

Hope my inputs helped!

M Brown

QUOTE

Hope my input's helped!

Yes thanks.
You're the second person who's recommended Tristar.

The one annoyance is the cost of delivery. eg Flugelhorn costs 50 GBP (Buy it now price) and delivery costs 70 pounds!!

Steve

A couple of years ago I wanted a Pocket Trumpet to stick in my back pack when I got sent to the Gulf. I saw one on Ebay from one of these Indian suppliers and thought " 20 quid, nothing to lose". However once you've added their rediculous £40 shipping charges the price soon becomes one that you have to take note of. Still £60 for a pocket trumpet can't be bad.

WRONG!

This is not so much the worst trumpet I have ever played (and I own ten at the moment, let alone how many I have played over 25 years of playing) but more of why should anyone want to remove the pipes from their bathroom and twist it into the shape of a trumpet?

In short, these trumpets are unplayable. Save up another couple of months and try to get a secondhand student model Yamaha or a similar name that you may have heard of. You can usually pick up a proper trumpet (albeit older) on Ebay for under a hundred quid including postage.

To finish the story, the pocket trumpet is in a box in my garage somewhere and I took my army issue Vincent Bach cornet to the desert with me. Although it took up much more weight and room, at least I was able to practice.

QUOTE (stevensfo @ Apr 8 2005, 08:49 PM)

You're probably right. It's funny how Yamaha crops up so much. I've heard the same thing said about their saxophones and clarinets.

Ditto their flutes.... they aren't the most amazing flutes ever, but they are reliable and long lasting...

Hi i bought a trumpet on E Bay for a arrouund £50 and the quality of it was very poor. The valves did not work the bell flare was wrong, the makers didnt have a clue as to how to make the instrument. A giid website is: www.music123.com
i bought my strad 18072 series there for 850, it was of excelent quality and i would ave had to pay arround 3000 at my local music shop.

Hello


Maybe it's possible to have a good brass instrument on ebay, but we must to be care !
Indian 's brass are not playables and if you want a trumpet for 20 $ sure that's a crape made in india. We see a lot of messages of Tristar on a lot of forums.
Tristar is exactly like the other junks made in India.
It was proof that Tristar use a lot of accounts on ebay for to sold crapy brass.
See :
tristarmusic_com
indiashop
valuebrass
econotrumpet
etc............................ Craponotrumpet.
The most of feed backs are on private solds and if you look very fine
you see a lot of negatives evaluations arranged. That's the best way for to have a good score on ebay. But don't forget that a lot of buyers are not musicians and
are please because it's nice for the price....
When we make a search on yahoo for Tristar Music :
http://fr.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=fp-pu...c&ei=ISO-8859-1
You see that tristar export vase flowers and décorative brass .....
exactly like the other resellers of indian brass junks and crapophones !
When you look too a tristar brass or a Empire Brass, raisonband ect... You see
that exactly the same items with all détails ...
There is no brass manufacture with the name Tristar in India it's a reseller name like the others crapy brass.

Also if you want a good brass with a raisonable price on ebay, you must to be care...
Brass made in india on ebay = BIG JUNK !

I found this site of a power seller on eBay called KK Music Store which had excellent feedback. I was interested, so I asked some experienced eBayer's to check them out and they gave me the thumbs up to go ahead and order with them.

To cut a very long story short, the Company sent me 2 Blue Cecilio (Chinese made) Pocket Trumpets at different times with the blue lacquer coat inside the valve chambers. They also claimed the keys were mother of pearl, which they were not! My gripe is really with eBay though, eBay is not properly policing its sites. It claims to be a just a neutral broker, yet it collects fee's from a "power seller" who is sending out defective merchandise, mostly to beginning music students and their parents who don't know any better!

I have of course informed eBay that this is happening and I have the trumpet in question, plus the relevant email exchanges, which clearly provide proof. EBay however is standing firm in their decision not get involved.

I think the Brand names like Amati & Jupiter are safe bets as inexpensive Pocket Trumpets for students or just a knock around horn. The more expensive Brand name Pocket Trumpets are even better if you have the money. I've learned my lesson the hard way!

I'm afraid I have to argue with Amati, I think they're also too crummy to spend money on. Don't get one. Their piccs and Bbs are awful. They do play but not in tune, the octaves sound more like a 7th of sorts. Jupiter are generally safer but as I've found out to my disappointment you do get what you pay for.

Stephen

If your looking for a cheap but nice Flugelhorn I can recommend the Rossetti Series 5 - ok so its slightly more expensive at around £200 but I love it - i guess it depends what you want a cheap instrument for- im a cornet player and play the Besson Prestige, my trumpet is a Challenger II and i just wanted a Flugel to cover the set really (ive just used it for my recital at Uni!) - more than adaquate for what I needed it for!!

I like the sound of Rosetti- I think they're also the people that make Bachs (but don't expect a Strad!) PLEASE do not buy a Tristar, I know many forums that basically laugh at Tristar and its taken as read that a serious player would never attempt to play one. Go second hand from Yamaha/Bach/Jupiter even, but not Tristar.... please???

Stephen

terrible news, but its a daily issue, sadly some of these power sellers will just barge through your rights to make a profit. as a whole ebay is not a good place to sell or buy valuable goods, anything over £30 needs a good looking into before buying.

I think India is yesterday's China, China is tomorrows Taiwan/Japan. Its funny though when you think back to how Japanese instruments were regarded in the 60's and 70's. Any way one of my old students bought a valve trombone from one of these Indian ebay deals, OMG that had to be the worst instrument i've ever had the displeasure of trying, the harmonics sounded false, the metal was way to soft, the pistons returned very slowly and became stuck unless oilded every 10 seconds. Bottom line he now has a nice wall hanger. China is well worth a look at for instruments but as other forum users have commented not all producers in China are acceptable in quality, their still in the stage of developing fair student good value instruments, a few names that spring to mind-Stag, Bentley, Fremont. In some instances the parts are assembled outside the peoples republic, its good to see how competive the markets are now this bodes well for players IMHO.

In addition, there are now reputable dealers selling chinese instruments. John Packer sells some and they have excellent reviews.

Steve

The new JP range is really rather good. They have just brought out a D/Eb trumpet for around £450 and it is already on back order it has been so popular! i wasn't too sure of the finish when I looked at a baritone for m daughter but i have heard they have improved drastically in the last 12 months. All the "own" brands on Ebay leave a lot to be deisred. I tried a Stagg baritone and sent it back because it was shocking - out of tune and badly made. I have also tried the Virtuosi at trade stadns and don't rate them either. Stick to Yamaha, Besson or at a push Jupiter or Blessing. Stomvi trumpets are pretty good too.

I'm afraid I have to argue with Amati, I think they're also too crummy to spend money on. Don't get one. Their piccs and Bbs are awful. They do play but not in tune, the octaves sound more like a 7th of sorts. Jupiter are generally safer but as I've found out to my disappointment you do get what you pay for.

Stephen
[/quote]

Has anyone ever purchased an Amati Tenor Horn? Are they worth spending money on? Any reports would be welcome.

Jonathan

[quote name='Jonathan Benjamin' date='May 14 2006, 11:20 AM' post='322082']
I'm afraid I have to argue with Amati, I think they're also too crummy to spend money on. Don't get one. Their piccs and Bbs are awful. They do play but not in tune, the octaves sound more like a 7th of sorts. Jupiter are generally safer but as I've found out to my disappointment you do get what you pay for.

Stephen
[/quote]

Has anyone ever purchased an Amati Tenor Horn? Are they worth spending money on? Any reports would be welcome.

Jonathan
[/quote]


It depends what you are looking for. The music service i work for had a batch of the Amati horns about 5 or 6 years ago and I had to send SO many back in on a regular basis because the valves were so bad. However, i have since suggested Amati's to parents of my students who would like to purchase an instrument for their child but cannot afford a besson or yamaha as i think, under these circumstances they offer a very affordable alternative. T

The tuning however is VERY suspect and would not, in my humble opinion. help you if you were looking to take the higher graded exams, or play regular gigs. i recently bought a blue amati trumpet for the sheer "cool" factor that it creates each time I go into a school. Suddenly, my schools are thinking brass can be just as cool as guitars or drums! I would NOt though, dream of playing this instrument at a Gig - i will get my Yamaha back out!

[quote name='KixMusic' date='May 16 2006, 11:44 PM' post='323923']
[quote name='Jonathan Benjamin' date='May 14 2006, 11:20 AM' post='322082']
I'm afraid I have to argue with Amati, I think they're also too crummy to spend money on. Don't get one. Their piccs and Bbs are awful. They do play but not in tune, the octaves sound more like a 7th of sorts. Jupiter are generally safer but as I've found out to my disappointment you do get what you pay for.

Stephen
[/quote]

Has anyone ever purchased an Amati Tenor Horn? Are they worth spending money on? Any reports would be welcome.

Jonathan
[/quote]


It depends what you are looking for. The music service i work for had a batch of the Amati horns about 5 or 6 years ago and I had to send SO many back in on a regular basis because the valves were so bad. However, i have since suggested Amati's to parents of my students who would like to purchase an instrument for their child but cannot afford a besson or yamaha as i think, under these circumstances they offer a very affordable alternative. T

The tuning however is VERY suspect and would not, in my humble opinion. help you if you were looking to take the higher graded exams, or play regular gigs. i recently bought a blue amati trumpet for the sheer "cool" factor that it creates each time I go into a school. Suddenly, my schools are thinking brass can be just as cool as guitars or drums! I would NOt though, dream of playing this instrument at a Gig - i will get my Yamaha back out!
[/quote]


I want to restate that my only experience with Amati is their Bb POCKET TRUMPET which I have found is decent for a low end POCKET TRUMPET. Supposidly after the fall of Communism they have upgraded their quality. A friend of mine who is a great Pro Tuba player liked his Amati (aka: Cherny brand?) Tuba, but did state some are Stinkers. The moral of the story go to a Music store & try a few you don't have to buy one.
Boris

Hello everyone,

I just found that TRISTAR Music now ships from their warehouse in the U.K.
Prices are inclusive of duties and VAT and a very reasonable shipping charge, and a money back guarantee for returns.

I recently ordered one of their professional series trumpet and am very happy with the purchase (I also own one of their student trumpet, which I bought very long ago).

You can check them out on http://www.tristarmusic.co.uk

Cheers,
M Brown

I just had a look at the website and am still a bit wary. The range of gold plated mouthpieces that they provide bares the description 'known to be far superior than a gold rim mouthpiece' and it sounds like they are playing a bit on the lack of knowledge of some people. The only difference I am aware of between silver and gold mouthpieces is that one of them is used of someone has a brass allergy (and I play on a gold mpc at the moment until I get the one I want in silver, there is no difference in sound or anything else).

Josh