Featuring: Legends Brass Mouthpieces and Backbores Kelly Mouthpieces I haven't had the opportunity to post lately due to the holidays, but the last few months have been busy from an acquisition perspective so I will be doing this in two parts. I was able to find some fantastically good bargains over the holidays, so I went a little more nuts than usual. I was also able to pick up some trumpets that I've always wanted to try from Ebay at prices that, frankly, made me feel like I stole them from someone. The horns I picked up were a 1974 Benge (L.A.) 3x (ML), a 2016 XO 1600iS, and a 1963 King Super 20 Symphony Balanced Silversonic DB otherwise and more simply known as the "Modified Harry James Model". I'll go into each one of these in separate posts in the future, but for now I will say that I am extremely happy with them all. Now, on to The Buzz... First up, let's talk mouthpieces for a bit. It seems like there are a million manufacturers out there...

After a thorough examination of my old Getzen Eterna Severinsen Large Bore Model trumpet, Charlie Melk, of Charlie's Brass Works in Georgia, provided me with two options: partial restoration with spot-plating as necessary, or complete restoration and re-plating. Both options were about what I expected for a job of this nature. Charlie said the horn was in good shape for its age and it only had plating wear in a few places. All of the rest of the work was going to be pretty ordinary repair work with the exception of the leadpipe since those of that era have not been made in a long time, and current Getzen replacement leadpipes are simply not the same. He mentioned mine was probably one of the last of that particular style, as well, even though the Severinsen Model was manufactured quite a few more years after mine. Given all of this information, it really boiled down to going the extra mile to have it look like a new trumpet with a complete re-plating job or just clean it thoro...

Featuring: Stomvi S14A VR Vs, Bob Reeves 41/dF Flugelhorn Mouthpiece, Lynn Nicholson XPiece and Reversible Rim Every few months, I plan to make a post such as this one titled, The Buzz . Here I will summarize any recent gear acquisitions, things I am testing, and brief thoughts on such things. This month I have been working via phone and email with K.O. Skinsnes of Stomvi USA on a new mouthpiece purchase. K.O. knows a thing or two about mouthpieces and mouthpiece design having worked with/for the great Bob Reeves in the past. I really like K.O.'s approach to mouthpiece design and the way he works to find the best match for a given person. I initially spent about 45 minutes on the phone with him (incredibly generous that he spent that kind of time with me) explaining my needs and my history, both successes and failures, specifically with previous mouthpieces. Like just about everyone else, I wanted to increase my endurance/efficiency. After chatting a while, ...