First time shopper--please advise.

[EuphoniumMom]

I've been lurking for awhile, first time posting. Hopefully I'm in the right spot.

The time has come for my son to move from a school-owned instrument to a euphonium of his own. He's played a Willson 2900 all through school. We plan to check out the vendors at ITEC next month. Any advice on brands he should be trying? Or just test them all? It would be great to find something that will last him through college and beyond. Thanks in advance for any insight!

[razorbacks1898]

I would say to test them all! Check out the high-end brands like Willson, Miraphone, Adams, Besson, etc. and see what he likes! There's also plenty of less expensive options that are of great quality too, like Jupiter XO, Wessex, and the Eastman. I might also recommend to have him bring his horn too, to do some side by side comparison. If he likes what he has now, the new Willsons are nice, but it would be good to try them all out just for the experience and to comparison shop!

[guidocorona]

According to what I heard some months ago, Wessex, in addition to its current lower cost Dolce and Festivo euphoniums, might be displaying at ITEC the prototype of a new higher end hand-made model, probably called EP600...

I have no idea of its specs and playing characteristics yet, but it might be worth while play-testing this new Wessex, along with the Miraphone M5050, Besson, and various iterations of the Adams E3, E2, and E1.

Regards, Guido

[John Morgan]

I've been lurking for awhile, first time posting. Hopefully I'm in the right spot.

The time has come for my son to move from a school-owned instrument to a euphonium of his own. He's played a Willson 2900 all through school. We plan to check out the vendors at ITEC next month. Any advice on brands he should be trying? Or just test them all? It would be great to find something that will last him through college and beyond. Thanks in advance for any insight!

Make sure he brings a large shank mouthpiece along, I think the Willson 2900 takes a Euro shank sized piece where most of the other top end horns and lower priced ones like Wessex take a large shank mouthpiece. Also, there have been cases where a person is really, really interested in an instrument and wants to buy it, but can't quite decide. Some vendors may allow you to take a horn home for the evening (after the display closes) as long as you have it back right when the display opens the next day. This might give your son a chance to play the horn somewhere away from the large amount of noise you may encounter in the vendor hall. Not sure how many do that, but I have heard this happening before.

And welcome to the forum!!

[58mark]

Don't forget to try the Packer 274. Beautiful tone, great intonation, and it's about the same price as the wessex

Wessex is coming out with a new euphonium model that is very impressive, but I would choose the Packer over the dolce (and did)

[guidocorona]

Hello 58Mark, what information have you gathered on the upcoming high end Wessex euphonium? ... And have you seen it and perhaps play tested it already?

G.

[58mark]

Yes, I played it at the army band conference. It's lightweight, very responsive, and the intonation seems to be good from initial testing

[guidocorona]

Thank you 58Mark... Sounds promising... Do you have any other info on this upcoming Wessex eupho... E.g. Bell diameter, trigger, brass type, projected pricing?

Thanks, G.

[58mark]

No trigger on the one I tested, bell looked like a 12", might have been a hair smaller. NO idea on pricing

[EuphoniumMom]

Thanks for the tips, especially about having the correct sized mouthpieces. Keep 'em coming!

[JasonDonnelly]

It all depends on what your price range. If you can afford it, then I would certainly recommend the higher-end horns from Besson, Willson, Yamaha, Miraphone, and the like.

I tried the new Wessex as well. Not bad, but I honestly have yet to try a Wessex (or any other Chinese horn, for that matter) that did not feel somewhat like a "toy" in how it played.

[Pat]

What grade will your son be moving to and what are his musical inclinations? If he's really enjoying his playing life and looks like he'll continue to enjoy it down the road, you might be able to set your sights on the high side. You'd hate to drop $4-6K on a higher end horn and have him change his interests unexpectedly. If it looks like he's really got "the itch", you'll want to find a horn that will keep up with him, and that won't frustrate him with usability issues or hard-to-fix intonation problems.

[EuphoniumMom]

He's in college and will probably play forever. I believe he has enjoyed the Willson, I just didn't want him to buy one without checking out what other options are available.

[jkircoff]

He's in college and will probably play forever. I believe he has enjoyed the Willson, I just didn't want him to buy one without checking out what other options are available.

Willsons are one of the grand-daddies of euphoniums, and you aren't likely to go wrong purchasing one. I've never heard of anyone owning a bad Willson....and if your son decides the euphonium isn't for him long term you can resell it relatively easily and recoup a good part of your investment (and probably all of it if you find a used one).

[Simes]

A few things I’d add, and this is from working in a specialist high end brass showroom. It’s something I’d see every day and every time people’s shortcomings or utter lack of preparedness would amaze me.

1. Know what you want, sound quality wise, chances are if you want a dark British sound, don’t buy a Yamaha, ace though they are.
2. Bring trusted ears and do blindfold tests.
3. Don’t take too long.
4. Don’t audition more than three at a time.
5. Memorise music so you can concentrate on what the instrument is doing.
6. Don’t spend any time at all in extreme registers (this always got me - people auditioning hooters with attempted high concert F, yet when quizzed, the customer doesn’t go above a C).
7. Work a break into the audition.
8. Ignore salesmen. They’ll have instruments which they’ll want gone.
9. If you have a budget of 5k, don’t audition a banjo at 8k.
10. Don’t try mouthpieces or music.
11. Sound is critical. All other priorities (range and technique) can be developed.

These are not entirely serious, but having just bought another euphonium I applied them all, successfully.

Good luck!