Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/28/2011

Question
QUESTION: I have a "Carl Fisher's Artist Model New York" (on the bell) trombone.  It doesn't have a serial # (original receiver).  It doesn't have a venturi tube.  The bell is very thin metal but the slide is very heavy.  It is in very good shape except for the wear on the hand contact areas which unfortunately has worn down the neat seashell pattern and a few dents.  It looks like it was played a lot.  A regular mouthpiece is too big.  It plays in Bb.  I would like to get some information on the horn if it is out there as well as what type of mouthpiece might have fit it.  I would like to restore it and play it.

Much thanks to people like you!

ANSWER: Back when this horn was made, trombones used a short shank mouthpiece.  You will need to scour eBay or old music stores for vintage mouthpieces.  Until 1940 when they bought out York, Fischer didn't make his own instruments, rather they were either imported or stenciled from domestic makers.  Slide trombones were not very popular in most of the 1800s, and didn't start coming back into popularity until the late 1800s.

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

QUESTION: Is unusual that it doesn't have a serial number?  Also that it doesn't have a venturi tube?

Answer
No, neither is unusual.  We tend to think of serial numbers as a way to date instruments, but that isn't the reason that makers used them.  They simply wanted to keep track of parts as the horn went through production.  It is inly incidental that sometimes the serial numbers aligned themselves chronologically.  In Fischer's case, there is no reconstruction of a serial number list, some were numbered, some were not, and it appears that there may have been several sequences used.

The lack of a venturi is also to be expected.  It is a feature of more modern horns.