Jupiter Trombones

[thevillagetuba]

In my experience, that valve should not be an issue. I played a Jupiter bass trombone for many years (the best bass I have played and I regret having to sell it) and half of my students play on Jupiter f-attachment instruments. The valves have always been smooth with great/smooth action and those instruments have been as consistent and reliable as the Bachs and Yamahas that have come in with and for other students.

[BrassedOn]

It is not normal for a fairly new trombone to not work fairly smoothly. Jupiter has been making decent products for a while. Maybe not true for the real bargain horns out there.

If you are experienced with rotor work, have a leather mallet and all, I recommend you take the whole thing apart, clean it, lube, and assemble WITH your nephew. Even if he’s too young to do it, he’s got to learn a bit. And at least how to oil. It could be the inner rotor cap is hammered in too far, constructing the rotor. Maybe you still need a repair shop with bigger bumper selection to do a quick job. Just on that. But the bumper material should fit snug and trim contact face with a blade to align as necessary. I think that’d be a fun activity for him. The nephew, not the repair person.

Otherwise, if not so confident yourself, take it to a repair shop for rotar clean and rotor alignment. It could be manufacture residue, metal burr, or something left from prior owner. If they report that the whole horn is filthy then pay up for a chem clean. That’s a kind gift from you to aspiring young player, and i hope it would not break the bank.

For the young player, a bad slide or bad rotor can make them frustrated or develop a bad habit like playing with pressure or bad hand position.

[ResilienceOils]

Jupiter has been making good stuff for quite a few years now. They are on par or better than most other Asian manufacturers. They are more consistent then Yamaha on a lot of their horns and are putting the money into the company to better it all the time. I would guess this is an anomaly or user error. If it was a manufacturing flaw Jupiter would send you replacement parts or take care of it right away. Let me know if you need help with this.

[toobagrowl]

Back when I was in middle school (just 25 years ago) NONE of the trombone players had F-trigger trombones; they were all small-bore King 606 or similar t-bones. Only the (few) 'serious' trombone players started buying large-bore F-trigger t-bones by high school. I guess times have changed.....

[BrassedOn]

Well maybe not the ideal forum for fathers of great nephew questions. My sympathies. But at least we can establish it is not Jupiter brand issue other than bumper design.

If father is guitar savvy he may understand that even pros who buy new guitars might then have them set up professionally before they really play on gigs, just to put the nut and neck at the right height and adjust sting length at the bridge. Not crazy to do a once over on a horn.

With the stop Arm off would the valve spin freely? If no I’d tap the valve from the screw side to see if the face plate could move off the valve. If the valve moved freely, then some screw at the fulcrum or arm is too tight. As for the bumper, I’d probably replace all with round stock and trim, but the glue idea is okay.

[BrassedOn]

Back when I was in middle school (just 25 years ago) NONE of the trombone players had F-trigger trombones; they were all small-bore King 606 or similar t-bones. Only the (few) 'serious' trombone players started buying large-bore F-trigger t-bones by high school. I guess times have changed.....

Back when I was in school we played on whatever garage sale trambone your parents got your hands on. And we liked it!**

Actually true. $25. A smaller than small bore Couenon et Cie trombone. I’d guess late 1930s. The receiver would not accept stand Bach shank. Three years. Then schoomhorn in HS, Olds. I don’t think I owned a trigger horn until college. 3B trigger them Bach 42BO.

**Also walked to school uphill both ways. Yes, in snow.

[sweaty]

I don't believe it is absurd for students to have better equipment than we had generations ago. In a dynamic, capitalistic society such as ours, just about all consumer goods increase in quality over time. Aren't your cars and computers better than they were 25 years ago? I only use a fraction of the capabilities of those things. If kids have 4th valves and thumb triggers, it is possible to use them. If they do not have them, it is not possible to use them.

[Tubaryan12]

The only tuba lesson that I had until age 17 was one ten-minute lesson (seventh grade – barely age 12) in one of the band room's practice rooms with an 11th grade bad baritone player who ran me through the entire Belwin Band Builder Book 1, and then shoved me out with the rest of the beginner band, who – by then – were well into Book 2. I decided to switch from trumpet, because I was afraid to ask my father to help me buy or rent a trumpet.

My freshman year of high school I was going to play tuba in the jazz band. There had been tuba in the previous years, and all of the upperclassmen had quit the band because of the new band director, I figured I was a shoo-in. I get done with the second rehearsal and the band director says "I don't want tuba in the jazz band. Here's a bass trombone...come back next week ready to play."

At least bloke got a crappy lesson.

[timothy42b]

Back when I was in middle school (just 25 years ago) NONE of the trombone players had F-trigger trombones; they were all small-bore King 606 or similar t-bones. Only the (few) 'serious' trombone players started buying large-bore F-trigger t-bones by high school. I guess times have changed.....

Back when I was in school we played on whatever garage sale trambone your parents got your hands on. And we liked it!**

.

My dad was a junior high band teacher. His view on garage sale instruments, which he expressed quite fervently, was never ever throw them away for any reason.

Instead, put them in the driveway and run over them several times.

If you put it in the garbage, inevitably somebody would rescue them from the dump, and he'd meet it again in his beginner band. It was hard enough to teach a kid to play an instrument that worked.

People would ask him what an instrument was worth, and that's what he'd usually tell them. It wasn't usually received all that well.

[ghmerrill]

Not sure how much Jupiter should be dumped on for those funkily shaped bumpers. They seem to be pretty much Bach-standard: https://www.hickeys.com/music/brass/tro ... s-pair.php. People often think of Bach as "finer horns", eh? And it's unlikely that this is a Jupiter design that Bach then adopted.

That doesn't, of course, mean that they shouldn't stay in their holders.