Expert: Kenton Scott - 11/25/2009

Question
I am a band director and this morning a student brought in an antique trombone that he found in his old storage space.  It belonged to another band directors great uncle I believe which puts it around 100 years old or so we think.  The only marking on it is on the bell with the detailed design and the word Seroco.  I have tried to look this up, but am unable to find anything.  Can you tell me anything about this brand or trombone.  It's fairly small, maybe an alto trombone, a long rod with 1/2 of it looking like the ridges on a screw coming from where the tuning slide would be.  All of the tubing is fairly narrow.  Is there an estimate of how much this would be worth as well?  Thank you, Maggie

Answer
I have not seen that brand name before, so I have to assume that it is a tradename used by a music store.  If you measure the tubing from bell to mouthpiece receiver and it measures about 78 inches then it is an alto, if it measure about 106 inches, then it is a tenor.  The rod was a stop for the tuning slide, possibly to go from high pitch to low pitch.  BTW, if it is a high pitch horn then the measures are 76 and 103 respectively.