Blessing Trumpet - Good?
DRLanger13
Listed price is $375 - is this fair???
Thank you so much for your time!
Robin
joel
Robin,
I try to discourage parents from buying student horns
in the $500+ range. I'm not sure which model Blessing
you have in mind, but it is not the ML-1, so probably
a new student-line model.
I always encourage people to find a good used student
line horn in the $200 range (e-bay is reasonable for
student horns) which is in good to excellent condition.
I've gotten friends and students horns from King and
Yamaha for less than $200 that looked nearly new.
Save the cash, and then be willing to buy your son
or daughter a new pro line horn if they stick with it
by 2nd year high school.
My 2 cents.
- Joel Schoenblum
* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful
jazz...@my-deja.com
If it is the ML-1, it would be an OK buy if it is in good shape.
That's a pro line horn, and a pretty good trumpet. I'd avoid any other
Blessings.
But as I've stated on this board before, if you want a really good
student horn that plays as good or better than some "pro" horns, try
the Besson 609. It is sold by Brasswind (800)348-5003 for $389. This
trumpet is a sleeper-- made in the USA by Kanstul, you won't believe
what a nice playing and well made little horn it is. A tremendous
value.
Mark
http://jazztrpt.freeservers.com
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
bugleboy
You should ask:
-Is this a good horn for the first-timer who never played
before? 2nd year? 3rd year?
-Is $375 my highest budget?
-How can I find the best horn for $375 knowing the student's
level?
You will be mad like a hell when the student dents his expensive
pro horn knowing he is the very beginner. Chances are all
beginners will dent and scratch their trumpets.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com.
Up to 100 minutes free!
http://www.keen.com
J Nelson
> student horn that plays as good or better than some "pro" horns, try
> the Besson 609.
When my daughter started I bought her a new Besson 609. I agree that it was
a nice playing horn. I say "was" because the horn seemed very thin and
susceptible to dents. After only two years in a Jr. High marching band, the
bell actually broke in half. Sadly, kids of today just do not seem to take
care of stuff. I suppose the Besson is a great horn as long as the student
is careful with it and can keep it protected from the other little
munchkins.
As a replacement, I bought her an old, used Holton student model ($200)
which I selected because it's built like a tank. Now she doesn't even use
the d*mn thing because the band director has her playing baritone. Guess
I'll just have to use it to revive my long dead chops. Where DID I put that
Arbans.....? :)
TrebleHorn
I've got an Olds Ambassador in great shape, in a decent case that I can ship
domestic US for $250.
I personally re-lacquered the leadpipe,removed all dents,chemically cleaned and
alligned the slides and play tested it a few,,,ok 9 times now, but I dare you
to find any serious problems with it.
Guarantee it will blow the doors off any Blessing student trpt. :-)
Alan Larsen
Trebl...@aol.com
Michael E. Schmidt
My L1 sounds better than most professional trumpetswhich cost 3 x the
price.
For about $579.00 you can purchace a BRAND NEW Professional Blessing
ML1 silver 460 bore trumpet witha 5" bell and monel valves.
May I recomend that you contact Jake at the Brasswind toll free at:
1-800-348-5003 .
Jake has always taken good care of me ,and he knows alot about horns .
Buy your student a horn that you can afford ,and that he/she can learn how
to make play wellwithout a lot of problems.
Why would anyone recomend an inferior horn, unless price is an issue.
Put students on good horns that their parents can afford .
Your best horn for your money in the under $600.00 range is a professional
Blessing.
I am a professional trumpet player with 23 years experience with about 55
mini concerts a year in churches, and my trumpet is a L1 Artist
Blessingsilver trumpet, after my concerts , trumpet players are amazed that
my Blessing Trumpet sounds so well, they look over my horn and ask, are you
sure this is the horn that you use ? .
I traded my used Blessing XL flugelhorn last month to a local music
store which in return sold it for more than I paid for it in 1984.
Blessing makes great horns, Blessing horns are American made and I have delt
with many of Blessing's employees first hand.
They are comitted to pleasing their customers.
Please, you have no reason to criticize such a great group of people who
make excellent horns for the money.
Chaplain Michael E. Schmidt
----------
In article <176f8e61...@usw-ex0109-069.remarq.com>, joel
<joel.schoen...@sciatl.com.invalid> wrote:
>
> Robin,
> I try to discourage parents from buying student horns
> in the $500+ range. I'm not sure which model Blessing
> you have in mind, but it is not the ML-1, so probably
> a new student-line model.
>
> I always encourage people to find a good used student
> line horn in the $200 range (e-bay is reasonable for
> student horns) which is in good to excellent condition.
>
> I've gotten friends and students horns from King and
> Yamaha for less than $200 that looked nearly new.
>
> Save the cash, and then be willing to buy your son
> or daughter a new pro line horn if they stick with it
> by 2nd year high school.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> - Joel Schoenblum
*The Professional model is the ML1
The student is the model b-127
the XL is the intermediate series.
Michael
Dr. Trumpet
<fluge...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> Blessing makes great horns.
If you like red rot.
Pops
55 mini concerts or roughly one 20 minute gig a week is closer to a
warmup than a pro who plays two 2-3 hour shows a day 6 days a week. Most
pros play more in a week than you do in a year.
I'm NOT trying to knock you but I AM trying to point out that you are
not putting your chops through the same amount of work and stress as the
guys in house bands, studios......
That has led you to think that pressure and lip swelling / bruising is
not so bad.
You get a week (7 days) to recover from your 20 minute gig.
A player in a house band gets 20 minutes to recover from 3 hours of
playing and then they get to play the show again.
I have a student who just recorded the theme for a new TV pilot (last
week). He was in the studio 14 hours on Wed. He was in the studio 8
hours on Thur doing a Christmas CD and had a gig with two 1.5 hour sets
the same day. On Friday he took a lesson and had a gig with three 1.5
hour sets. He played the same gig on Sat as well.
If he bruised his chops as you say is OK then he could NOT have played
that schedule. BTW this is NOT unusual for a pro player.
Information about my trumpet & embouchure books.
http://www.BbTrumpet.com
Best wishes
Clint 'Pops' McLaughlin
bugleboy
in 20 minutes as you said "A player in a house band gets 20
minutes to recover from 3 hours of playing and then they get to
Thanks.
joel
> Blessing makes great horns.
> My L1 sounds better than most professional
> trumpetswhich cost 3 x the
> price.
Michael,
I used to come to the defense of the Blessing ML-1
in the newsgroups because I purchased one about
1991 and played it for 5 years. There is no question
that it had a beautiful dark, rich, full sound.
However, I've heard enough horror stories about Blessing
horns produced LATER than 1991, rotting and falling apart
that I can no longer defend the ML-1. It was a very
reasonable, great sounding horn in its day, but unless
you've tried them recently, you probably shouldn't go
on record recommending them.
- Joel Schoenblum
Brian Jones
Pops wrote:
> 55 mini concerts or roughly one 20 minute gig a week is closer to a
> warmup than a pro who plays two 2-3 hour shows a day 6 days a week. >Most
pros play more in a week than you do in a year.
>
Surely this guy does more than 1 gig a week. He has said in at least 2
posts that he is a professional player, to me that implies that the vast
majority of his income comes through his playing, that must be one hell of
a well paying gig if his bread is put on the table with it.
yours
Brian Jones
Sebastian Diel
> What do you reccomend for a typical practice to achieve recovery
> in 20 minutes as you said "A player in a house band gets 20
> minutes to recover from 3 hours of playing and then they get to
> play the show again"?
I would - personally - suggest kissing. That helps almost instantly. ;o)
scnr
SeDi
Pops
Brian;
Michael is the one who said and I quote; "I am a professional trumpet
player with 23 years experience with about 55 mini concerts a year in
churches."
He was using that playing experience to document another statement he
was making. Surely if he did 5 or 6 long gigs a week he would have put
that instead.
2.)
To be able to play 3 -4 sets a night or 2 full shows requires:
A great deal of practice. I tell my advancing students to play the
Schlossberg on a 10 day cycle.
Day 1 is # 1, 11, 21, 31... 151. Day 2 is #2, 12, 22, 32... 152. Day 10
is # 10, 20, 30....
It takes a couple of weeks for them to get used to this but it builds
monster endurance.
A closed aperture embouchure using minimal mouthpiece pressure is also
nice.
3.)
I posted that I have a student who just recorded the theme for a new TV
pilot (last week). He was in the studio 14 hours on Wed. He was in the
studio 8 hours on Thur doing a Christmas CD and had a gig with two 1.5
hour sets the same day. On Friday he took a lesson and had a gig with
three 1.5 hour sets. He played the same gig on Sat as well.
The schedule Brandon did last week (above) is NOT unusual for a pro.
Tommy (last week) had a day that he did 5 paid gigs plus his 5 hours on
Tuesday night and his 6 hours each on Fri and Sat night. (5 in a day is
unusual.)
Rex had a schedule (2 weeks ago) that scared even me. It was roughly 6
- 9 hours a day playing in several different groups (including The Blues
Brothers) at a festival.
If these 3 had swollen or bruised lips they couldn't play their gigs.
Michael E. Schmidt
I used my Blessing XL Intermediate Flugelhorn for 15 years before I replaced
it with a new horn, and it is still in good shape.
I have been playing on my Blessing L1 since 1994 and it still sounds like it
is a new horn, it has held up very well, much better than my Mt. Vernon Bach
did.
Michael Schmidt
----------
>From: "Dr. Trumpet" <dr_trpt-...@hotmail.com>
In article <dr_trpt-spamfree-F6...@news.netdirect.net>, "Dr.
Michael E. Schmidt
Michael Schmidt
----------
In article <34f93954...@usw-ex0103-018.remarq.com>, bugleboy
<bugleboy...@myremarq.com.invalid> wrote:
> What do you reccomend for a typical practice to achieve recovery
> in 20 minutes as you said "A player in a house band gets 20
> minutes to recover from 3 hours of playing and then they get to
> play the show again"?
>
Brian Jones
> Michael is the one who said and I quote; "I am a professional trumpet
> player with 23 years experience with about 55 mini concerts a year in
> churches."
>
> He was using that playing experience to document another statement he
> was making. Surely if he did 5 or 6 long gigs a week he would have put
> that instead.
>
I was just using your post to wonder how one can earn a living off one short
gig a week. I should have asked him directly.
yours
Brian Jones
Dr. Trumpet
<fluge...@mindspring.com> wrote:
At the risk of repeating a story most have heard on the NG, a local store I
taught at in the late 1980's got in a whole line of Blessing instruments for our
band students and our program. Trumpets for beginners, and mellophones,
marching baritones and tubas for the band. In the months that followed, we had
no less than 20 horns returned by students for a red rot problem, mostly the
student line trumpets. Blessing stood behind the horns and replaced them, but
several of the replacements too had a red rot problem, and these were NEW horns.
A student of mine bought an ML-1 at the same time, and his leadpipe is now long
gone. Concienscous kid, kept it clean. Still red rotted out in about 18
months. Blessing would not stand behind that.
The marching instruments lasted 5 years. The mellos were replaced with Yamaha
ones when all of their leadpipes red rotted out. A local repair shop refit the
leadpipes on the horns with generic ones, and they were sent to the junior high
schools for use. One of the eight is still in service. The baritones broke at
the solder joints, and three leadpipes red rotted out. We took the parts of
four and made one good baritone. Of the six convertible tubas we got, three are
still in service, and three are gone. Broken solder joints and instruments that
literally fell apart after just a few years of use.......and use by kids who
treated them well and did not abuse them.
Experience tell me to avoid Blessing...............
BlastMaster
sucker traded me for a beater they were playing on. Never
experienced a red rot problem, but didn't like the sound at all.
Of course, maybe I swapped for the same brand with the name
buffed off. But then it would have been a blessing in disguise.
bugleboy
less than $1500 has the same manufacturing quality and materials
as a $375 Blessing.
A $375 Blessing is not for everyboy. It was designed to hit a
certain nitche trumpet market. A wise salesman would not attempt
to sell a $375 Blessing to Maynard Furguson.
A buyer need to establish their own buying criteria. Once the
criteria is set, selection would be much easier. Whether a $375
Blessing is the best buy depends on those criteria. Some may not
care about red rot.
Woody Shaw
BlastMaster <jmhNO...@researchpress.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:3371c562...@usw-ex0105-036.remarq.com...
> I hated the XL flugelhorn, played it for 9 years until some
> sucker traded me for a beater they were playing on. Never
> experienced a red rot problem, but didn't like the sound at all.
>
> Of course, maybe I swapped for the same brand with the name
> buffed off. But then it would have been a blessing in disguise.
Ahh Jesus, that last part was funny
Michael E. Schmidt
Michael S
----------
In article <398EFD74...@dorf.wh.uni-dortmund.de>, Sebastian Diel
<se...@dorf.wh.uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
> bugleboy wrote:
>
>> What do you reccomend for a typical practice to achieve recovery
>> in 20 minutes as you said "A player in a house band gets 20
>> minutes to recover from 3 hours of playing and then they get to
>> play the show again"?
>
Michael E. Schmidt
What might work well for one person might not work at all for someone else.
The best thing that someone can do is to try many horns, and then pick the
best sounding+playing horn + playing they can afford.
Often it is an issue of money.
Face it, most students can not afford a trumpet that cost over 2 grand, and
many parents want to find a horn for under $600.00.
A used hornlike a used car can bring with it a lot of problems.
For under $600.00 , a Professional Blessing (Not the XL line) is well worth
looking at.
Blessing horns hold up well, and have a great "dark" sound.
Michael Schmidt
----------
In article <8mpj8o$eq9$1...@ins22.netins.net>, "Woody Shaw" <kle...@fmctc.com>
wrote:
Michael E. Schmidt
----------
>From: "Dr. Trumpet" <dr_trpt-...@hotmail.com>
In article <dr_trpt-spamfree-C2...@news.netdirect.net>, "Dr.
Trumpet" <dr_trpt-...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Well, Peoples experiences are different.
We got good service and wear out of the marching brass that we used at
Liberty.
I have been very happy with the service that I have received out of my horn
and as you said, when you had a problem Blessing took care of you.
Blessing makes great marching brass, their marching baritone is awesome, it
has a fantastic sound, like the king 2 valve bugles that Star used to play
on.
By the way Dr. Trumpet, who are you?
Where are you from?
Michael Schmidt
Michael E. Schmidt
Joel, I have a 1994 l1 .
I have not had any of the problems that you are talking about, but I will
pass your concerns on to Mr. Johnson the next time that I talk with him.
Michael
----------
In article <0a0bc822...@usw-ex0109-069.remarq.com>, joel
<joel.schoen...@sciatl.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Blessing makes great horns.
Michael E. Schmidt
----------
In article <3b3d8fb1...@usw-ex0104-032.remarq.com>, bugleboy
<bugleboy...@myremarq.com.invalid> wrote:
> I would be very mad at Kanstul if my Kanstul which I paid a bit
> less than $1500 has the same manufacturing quality and materials
> as a $375 Blessing.
Kanstul is involved in making horns for callet and besson, along with
others, but I do not know of any of Zigs involvement in Blessing, I doubt it
is true, unless it is in the area of design, those M-300 horns llok like
somthing Zig would design but I have no way of knowing if Zig has any
involvement with Blessing.
>
> A $375 Blessing is not for everyboy.
Well, I recomend a $600.00 Blessing trumpet, the pro series.
> It was designed to hit a
> certain nitche trumpet market. A wise salesman would not attempt
> to sell a $375 Blessing to Maynard Furguson.
Well, I bet Maynard could make the L1 sound good.
Michael E. Schmidt
----------
In article <10019-398...@storefull-112.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
Bbtr...@webtv.net ('Pops') wrote:
> 1.)
> Brian;
>
> Michael is the one who said and I quote; "I am a professional trumpet
> player with 23 years experience with about 55 mini concerts a year in
> churches."
>
> He was using that playing experience to document another statement he
> was making. Surely if he did 5 or 6 long gigs a week he would have put
> that instead.
My genre is gospel music, I would rather get invited to play to a big crowd
than try to promote one, that is why I like to play in scheduled services,
although I play to small churches, I doubt that I would ever play to as many
people as I do if i were doing concerts separate from regularly scheduled
times.
I like the mini concert format, it works well for me, about 3 songs a gig.
>It is nice to play to over a thousand people, I enjoy it, and palying in
churches allows me to minister to that many several times a year, along with
small churches with say 30 people.
>
>
> 2.)
> To be able to play 3 -4 sets a night or 2 full shows requires:
>
> A great deal of practice. I tell my advancing students to play the
> Schlossberg on a 10 day cycle.
>
> Day 1 is # 1, 11, 21, 31... 151. Day 2 is #2, 12, 22, 32... 152. Day 10
> is # 10, 20, 30....
>
> It takes a couple of weeks for them to get used to this but it builds
> monster endurance.
>
> A closed aperture embouchure using minimal mouthpiece pressure is also
> nice.
>
> 3.)
> I posted that I have a student who just recorded the theme for a new TV
> pilot (last week). He was in the studio 14 hours on Wed. He was in the
> studio 8 hours on Thur doing a Christmas CD and had a gig with two 1.5
> hour sets the same day. On Friday he took a lesson and had a gig with
> three 1.5 hour sets. He played the same gig on Sat as well.
The longest that I have been in the studio this year was 12 hrs.
I did not have a swollen lip, I could have played another 12 hrs, but it was
midnight.
Michael E. Schmidt
----------
In article <17098-39...@storefull-111.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
Bbtr...@webtv.net ('Pops') wrote:
> Michael no wonder you feel like you do about your chops.
>
> 55 mini concerts or roughly one 20 minute gig a week is closer to a
> warmup than a pro who plays two 2-3 hour shows a day 6 days a week. Most
> pros play more in a week than you do in a year.
Yes, but I reherse 3 + hrs a day to play those two gigs a week, 6 days a
week.
>
>
> I'm NOT trying to knock you but I AM trying to point out that you are
> not putting your chops through the same amount of work and stress as the
> guys in house bands, studios......
In a way that is very true, but I have been there before .
>
>
> That has led you to think that pressure and lip swelling / bruising is
> not so bad.
>
> You get a week (7 days) to recover from your 20 minute gig.
That is not true, I practice just as hard or harder 6 days a week.
>
>
> A player in a house band gets 20 minutes to recover from 3 hours of
> playing and then they get to play the show again.
I do not do this very often unless a church has multiple sunday morning
services, whach I do about 2 or 3 times a year, I do a lot of sunday morning
sunday nights which is nice, it gives my chops a lot of rest.
>
>
> I have a student who just recorded the theme for a new TV pilot (last
> week). He was in the studio 14 hours on Wed. He was in the studio 8
> hours on Thur doing a Christmas CD and had a gig with two 1.5 hour sets
> the same day. On Friday he took a lesson and had a gig with three 1.5
> hour sets. He played the same gig on Sat as well.
>
> If he bruised his chops as you say is OK then he could NOT have played
> that schedule. BTW this is NOT unusual for a pro player.