Antique Musical Instruments/7 belled brass instrument

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Expert: - 5/23/2007


Question
A friend of a co-worker of mine saw a strange brass instrument with 7 bells, 6 piston valves, and a tuba sized mouthpiece. We were wondering what it could be. It was seen in a museum in Japan (could not read the description written in japanese). Thank You

Answer
I believe you are describing what is known as a 7 belled trombone.  Each bell was activated by a separate lever, and was  an attempt to have good intonation on each pitch needed to do a complete chromatic scale.  I think it was an instrument produced by Adolphe Sax. but I'm not sure about manufacturer.  

Antique Musical Instruments

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Kenton Scott

Expertise

Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

Experience

I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net

Education/Credentials
B.S. Ed, M.S.

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