Expert: Kenton Scott - 12/12/2006

Question
I have a Harry Pedler & Sons trumpet my parents bought me when I joined the school band at about age 13.  I am 69 now and want to see about getting the instrument reconditioned a bit so I can begin playing again.  The finish is in bad condition and the bend in the tube before the bell has a significant (about 1 1/2" crimp; est. 1/3 of its diameter) and the short slide from valve 2 is also dented about the same amount. All other aspects seem to work.  The mouth piece is probably not original, as it has "Al-Tru 4M" and "York" marked on it.  The original case was water damaged and had to be discarded long ago.  Do you have any idea as to the approximate true age of this instrument?

Answer
I can tell you that is is no older than 1937, but I don't have a date as to when they quit making Pedlers.  The mouthpiece would not be original with the York name on it. If you want to do some of the work on it yourself, if you want to email me some pictures (kenton@punxypa.com), I'll try to give you some suggestions.