Mahillon Piccolo Trumpet

[Rafael Cuadros]

A friend of mine let me try out an old piccolo trumpet he had. It is
marked on the bell:

521
C. Mahillon
Brussels
Since 1838
F
(underneath the F, there is a star)

There is no serial number on it, and I cannot find a web page that gives
me information on it. It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I
were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
horn?

[Jerry Houston]

> A friend of mine let me try out an old piccolo trumpet he had. It is
> marked on the bell:

> ... It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I

> were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
> horn?

I don't have any wisdom regarding that particular model, but I'd encourage
you to check the fit of the water key on the leadpipe or main tuning slide,
if there's one there. They often fit poorly on older instruments, and that
can make them sound terrible.

If it uses a cork pad, and it appears to be worn out or damaged, try
replacing the cork. That can make a remarkable difference in sound quality.

Jerry in Seattle

[WiCAdam]

I encountere one of these many years ago -
I remember it looked like a tiny 3 valve fluegelhorn.

Don't know a thing about them, tho, except Mallion was
a respected mfg in Belgium from between the wars
& before.

Bill Adam
Dallas, TX USA

[WWise72606]

<< It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I
were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
horn? >>

Check out the recording Bob Nagel made with Pablo Casals.
I had the pleasure to assist Bob, I played a couple of the repeated low notes.
Bob not only play a Mahillion trumpet, but also played the mouthpiece that came
with the horn.
His performance is spectacular!!!!!!!!!!
They were at one time, the picc,along with the long belled Couesnon.

Wilmer

[WWise72606]

<<
Check out the recording Bob Nagel made with Pablo Casals. >>

I forgot to mention the title.
Bach 'Brandenburg #2"
Wilmer

[Wim Slot]

I'm not a community band player but heard that this brand was often used in
community bands in Holland (most tubas eg.) so they couldn't be of bad
quallity in my opinion.

Wim

[Dr. Trumpet]

In article <19991212234618...@ng-ff1.aol.com>, wwise...@aol.com
(WWise72606) wrote:

> << It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I
> were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
> horn? >>
>
>

> Check out the recording Bob Nagel made with Pablo Casals.

> I had the pleasure to assist Bob, I played a couple of the repeated low
> notes.
> Bob not only play a Mahillion trumpet, but also played the mouthpiece that
> came
> with the horn.
> His performance is spectacular!!!!!!!!!!
> They were at one time, the picc,along with the long belled Couesnon.
>
> Wilmer

Wilmer and friends,

Mr. Robert Grocock, my trumpet teacher at DePauw and a former member of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, had one that he swore by as well. Of course, he too
was a Glantz student during the late 40's, so I wonder if the connect came from
their time in NYC. Mr. Grocock was a close friend of Ren Schilke, and Mr.
Schilke always admired the tone and lyric quality of the Mahillon piccolo
trumpet sound. Mr. Schilke went so far as to ask Mr. Grocock for his piccolo,
so he could dissassemble it and learn from it. Mr. Grocock never did let Mr.
Schilke take it apart, but did let him examine it some. Interestingly, Mr.
Schilke built a P5-4 for Mr. Grocock that was the best P5-4 I have ever played,
yet was NOT as good as this Mahillon. I would love to locate an old Mahillon
that played like that one. What a great sound!!

Hope things are well!

AL

[Neil L. King]

I thought that I would add my two cents to this. One of my former teachers has
one and still performs on it. He let Ren Schilke look at it back when it was
purchased and Schilke actually called it a piccolo flugelhorn. He told me that
only a little over a hand full of these instruments even made it into the US.
Apparently they were made by a family and everyone sorta died off. Hope this
helps.

PS. if its any consolation, I always thought that they did not sound very
good. Very stuffy sounding. They also came with a longer curved crook to put
them in G. Regards, Neil

[benjami...@gmail.com]

Letter A inside 6 point star dates from 1901, Letter B inside star 1902 ...
Letter A outside star dates from 1927, B outside star is from 1928, C 1929.....

Dot character star: . A .. Sar = 1953

Cheers

[barr...@juno.com]

Thanks for posting. Is rec.music.makers.trumpet really back without spam?

[Jeff]

On Friday, December 26, 2014 at 12:21:13 PM UTC-6, barr...@juno.com wrote:
>
> Thanks for posting. Is rec.music.makers.trumpet really back without spam?

Like much of usenet, it's largely dormant/inactive.

[r.he...@bibliotheekkerkrade.nl]

Op zaterdag 11 december 1999 09:00:00 UTC+1 schreef Rafael Cuadros:

> A friend of mine let me try out an old piccolo trumpet he had. It is
> marked on the bell:
>

> 521
> C. Mahillon
> Brussels
> Since 1838
> F
> (underneath the F, there is a star)
>
> There is no serial number on it, and I cannot find a web page that gives

> me information on it. It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I

> were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
> horn?

A great instrument! There were 4 versions of this trumpet (all model 521): a short 3 valve, a long 3 vale, a short 4 valve and a long 4 valve. The letter F above the star means it was made in 1932, a letter F with a dot above it above the star means 1958.

Ralph Henssen

--

[jkfo...@gmail.com]

On Monday, December 13, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Dr. Trumpet wrote:
> In article <19991212234618...@ng-ff1.aol.com>, wwise...@aol.com
> (WWise72606) wrote:
>

> > << It sounds kind of bad. It almost sounds as if I
> > were just buzzing the mouthpiece. Does anyone have any info on this
> > horn? >>
> >
> >

> > Check out the recording Bob Nagel made with Pablo Casals.
> > I had the pleasure to assist Bob, I played a couple of the repeated low
> > notes.
> > Bob not only play a Mahillion trumpet, but also played the mouthpiece that
> > came
> > with the horn.
> > His performance is spectacular!!!!!!!!!!
> > They were at one time, the picc,along with the long belled Couesnon.
> >
> > Wilmer
>
> Wilmer and friends,
>
> Mr. Robert Grocock, my trumpet teacher at DePauw and a former member of the
> Chicago Symphony Orchestra, had one that he swore by as well. Of course, he too
> was a Glantz student during the late 40's, so I wonder if the connect came from
> their time in NYC. Mr. Grocock was a close friend of Ren Schilke, and Mr.
> Schilke always admired the tone and lyric quality of the Mahillon piccolo
> trumpet sound. Mr. Schilke went so far as to ask Mr. Grocock for his piccolo,
> so he could dissassemble it and learn from it. Mr. Grocock never did let Mr.
> Schilke take it apart, but did let him examine it some. Interestingly, Mr.
> Schilke built a P5-4 for Mr. Grocock that was the best P5-4 I have ever played,
> yet was NOT as good as this Mahillon. I would love to locate an old Mahillon
> that played like that one. What a great sound!!
>
> Hope things are well!
>
> AL

Al, et al.,

I recently purchased a case of several trumpets and mouthpieces which previously belonged to the late Robert Grocock (trumpet teacher at DePauw and a former member of the 
Chicago Symphony Orchestra). One of the instruments is a C. Mahillon 521 H piccolo trumpet (or piccolo flugelhorn), which seems to be in fine condition. The case also included what looks like a piccolo lead pipe, but it doesn’t seem to fit into the receiver. I’m posting this since it seems that a few people have been looking for this instrument.

Jeff
jfol...@cinci.rr.com

[albertm...@gmail.com]

I actually have a long 3 valve with an I above the star (1935). Does anyone know the value of such an instrument?

Al Muccilli