Yes, we've all seen them on ebay at fantastically low prices, but last
Saturday I actually got to play one. Horrible brand name, at least to
Americans.
This was a four vavle single Bb, nickle silver, with screw bell. It was very
solidly constructed and used thick metal on the bell. It had a nice plastic
case for the money. The seller wanted $180.
At first the horn played badly. Very out of tune. So, I removed the main
tuning slide, reversed it, replaced it, and tried again. This improved the
intonation dramatically. However, I now found the fourth line D and fourth
space Eb were impossible to play.
I took out the mouthpiece I was using, the one that came with the horn, and
put in a Schilke 27. Bingo!!! The horn played great, nice sound, very well in
tune, and the D and Eb were as solid as you could want. The valves seemed
tight, at least according to the "pop" test. They didn't wiggle, either.
The tone was a bit darker than my Alex triple, but not muffled or stuffy.
The horn did have a bit more resistance than my Alex, but further mouthpiece
experimentation might fix that. A very nice horn from the bottom to high C. I
didn't buy it, but it would have fit my current needs very well.
So, there may be some hope for Chinese horns after all.
Wilbert in SC
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