Expert: Kenton Scott - 4/9/2008

Question
QUESTION: We have trumpet in our family which apparently belonged to my late grandmothers brother. It has Class A, 50 Medals of Honour,Besson & C0,and Prototype engraved on the bell.It has Besson & Co and Brevette with a star engraved on the casing of the second valve.It also has some kind of "switch"on the right hand side we think to alter the key?
Would you be able to give me a little more information on this instrument?

ANSWER: You can see a bunch of information on Besson and their product line at:  http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=Besson

The switch was a key change for the instrument.  They were sometimes sold as a part of the instrument and sometimes as an 'after-market' item.  And, usually they took the instrument down a 1/2 step from Bb to A, or a whole step from C to Bb.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It is some years since I played this instrument.The valves are a bit sticky and the slides a bit stiff. I seem to remember using valve oil and vasoline as lubricants and a type of Brasso for silverware. Would you recommend these products for maintaining the working parts, or in the years since I used them have other products been developed?

Answer
There are other more modern products that are matched up to modern instruments.  You are better off with traditional products for your vintage horn.  Vaseline is ok for a horn if you are using it regularly, but it does tend to make slides stick if not used for a while.  You could either get some basic slide grease at your music store or put some lanolin on them.  Valve oil for the valves. I wouldn't use Brasso on silver.  You are better off with a good grade of silver polish.  If it is really dirty you might want to try some Tarnx first.