Schmelzer Model 1 Tenor Trombone in Gold Brass with Long Crook

Item Details

This is a small bore tenor trombone built by Manfred Schmelzer in Germany.  The Scmelzer Model 1 has a .500" all nickel hand slide with round brass end crook.  Two press-fit leadpipes are included.  The bell is made of gold brass, as is the long tuning slide bow.  The bell features ornate floral engraving.

Schmelzer trombones like this are based partly on the US-made Earl Williams trombones from back in the day.  The bell has a larger throat, more like a King 3B, and the tuning bow is long.  These traits give the Williams and the Schmelzers a slightly sweeter sound for how efficient they are.  This one is slightly different in that the tuning bow is longer than normal, and the hand slide is about 1cm shorter.  Also the hand slide brace is closer to the cork barrels, so there's more room for slide vibrato, and players with small-than-average hands may prefer the fit of this setup.  With the long crook, it's a subtle difference, but this horn has more length is its larger tapered tubes than in the smaller hand slide tubes.  But its very light, so it's still fast and hot as you like it.

Herr Schmelzer will retire this year (2024) at age 83, so these trombones are the last of their breed.  Also with Schmelzers, there is always something.  This one, there's some extra solder at the bell rim, some of the engraving shows through to the inside of the flare, there are marks from handling.  And it took some doing to get the hand slide working smoothly.  Clean and play it lots to get it worked in.  I give it a 9 for light action plus one demerit for futziness.

Still, this is a captivating trombone to play.  It's very light, fast, nimble and warm, just the way you want it.

Specs:

• .500" nickel hand slide, round brass crook
• two leadpipes
• 195mm gold brass bell
• gold brass long tuning bow
• hard case