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The first trombone player in our community orchestra saw that I like tinkering with things and so he gave me the bell section of a Chinese trombone he got off ebay (he was buying it for the case, and this was all that was inside, no slide section). He said he put it on a slide of his and it's just horribly out of tune with itself, so it hung in his garage for a while.

Anyway, I was going to hang on to the rotor and tubing for possible project use down the road, and making a lamp out of the rest of it. Has anyone ever done this before? Should I go for a floor lamp of some kind or a hanging lamp?

Any other creative ideas besides a fountain? We don't plan on having a fountain in our yard...

It's really easy to make a good table lamp out of the bell. I've seen a couple made of old metal clarinets (not soprano saxes). They stand on the bell end of the instrument and the bulb goes at the skinny end. Of course they have shades hiding the bulb and the top few inches of the instrument. I think they were fastened to wooden stands for stability (and to hide the cord).

The parts are easy enough to get at a hardware store. You'll need to add the a-lamp socket with a switch. You can buy the 2-wire cord and an easy enough to add plug. That's about all you need other than the lamp shade holder (depending on what kind of shade you want).
You will also need some way to fasten the lamp socket to the skinny part of the bell. I think you can find lamp sockets that are pre-made for this kind of 'crafting' at craft stores.

You may need to punch a hole for the cable at the bottom if you don't want to add some rubber feet. Your wife may prefer having rubber feet to prevent rings on the furniture.

I suppose you could make a floor lamp if you add a section of conduit into the bell and some kind of base to hold it all steady. You'll want to paint the conduit unless you like the look of the zinc coating. I'm not quite sure if it will have a galvanic reaction with the brass inside the bell - you may want to use a few wraps of electrical tape where they touch to prevent any reactions. EMT conduit is the thinnest steel conduit and you can get it in most Lowe's or Home Depot stores. It comes in 10' sticks.

You could bury the bow and use the bell as a plant stand....

Tubajug wrote: it's just horribly out of tune with itself

Surely any intonation problems on a trombone can be easily dealt with by slightly altering positions. It's like saying "that type of violin is really out of tune". It's just being played incorrectly (nothing personal against your friend).

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