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Wow, I’ve had some cool stuff lately, and this one was a whole lot of fun! This one has had some work done in the past, but it’s in pretty nice shape overall. It’s mostly raw brass at this point in its life, so I left as much patina as I could. That red brass bell is a beauty! It needed a good solid clean, and new felts and corks, but other than that not much. It had a replacement water key that was a bad fit causing leaks, but I found an age appropriate one that was a better...

Yes, brass fans - you read that correctly - a 42 bell trumpet! You can check out the original specs of the horn on the photo of the shop card, too! This horn is almost all original, with roughly 70% of its lacquer remaining, and has seen very little trauma in its long life. The leadpipe has been replaced with a copper one and the 2nd valve slide pull knob is missing, but it’s nice and straight and shows very little evidence of repair otherwise. It even comes with the original case! Unfortunately we don’t have the original shop card...

There have been lots and lots of horns across my bench lately, but I thought I’d take a few moments to show you this one - an Edwards trombone with Thayer valve and TB-C slide. This is a very nice professional instrument, and the previous owner cared for it as it only had one small dent. It was, however, pretty full of calcification and had a few stuck parts due to not having a regular chem clean. While a regular home clean will take care of a lot of the yuck we blow into our horns, a professional chem clean...

So, I promise I did NOT find these in a case! One of the wonderful things about working here at the igloo is all the nature around us! Woodinville is just far enough away from the city that it feels like living in the woods, and we get regular visits in our yard from wild things like coyotes and bobcats. This time, a little finch is raising her tiny, adorable family on the side of our building! The nest is just above knee high on me (and I’m short!), so it’s pretty easy to get a quick photo of the...

Hello sports fans! Welcome to everyone’s favorite, Tuba Wrasslin’!!! Before I started school band, I briefly thought about playing tuba. It’s such a cool sound and such a presence in a band, and it was hard to resist, but trumpet was calling me. I’m glad I resisted the temptation, but not because of the size of it. Tubas are expensive!  Your average new student tuba is about the same price as a high end professional trumpet. We all understand that here, and so we carry great tubas from student to pro at great prices. This Jupiter 1110 is a great...