TubeNet

Note "MADE IN USA" on the valve cover. As pointed out in a trumpetherald thread.

There's a Bach warranty in the box, too. No serial number. Trent Hamilton youtube video from 2015 $280 Fake Bach Stradivarius Trumpet, he actually seems to think it's a great deal if you don't mind cheap junk.

Wow...

Casca Grossa wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDqhv7mhwUw" target="_blank

Beat me to it. I still think it could be fake (did this just for the sake of the video...?)

The most plausible scenario there, to me, would be where he'd already done it, by accident, and then decided to work it up as a video. Pretty good view count on the video. But it doesn't really make him look good, and I can't see anything about the "before" that hints at existing damage. That doesn't mean he couldn't have pushed some things back together and fooled me, though.

Why would he do that? Sure...views. But at no more than 10K views on a vast majority of his videos, what purpose would views serve other than feeding an ego? (which, BTW, I don't believe Trent has) It's not like he's making money on these videos, he does it for fun. Killing a contra for views, when instead he could continue to use it and get more views and have fun with his $2500 toy? That's stupid.

Sure, he's not a fantastic instrumentalist, but he's certainly not bad enough that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between two horns of vastly different quality. AND, he does actually point out that $10 trumpets are worthless in one of his videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YIAarGGljg" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank) and trombone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGewC7X2Gyg" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank). This is why, later, he uses the Indian trumpet to try to make a 6-valve trumpet just because (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UG6CkX3-qk" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank).

As far as cheap horns go, why is it so hard to believe that some of them migth be decent nowadays? Maybe Tubenet is a little behind, but many trumpeters and trombonists have been coming around to some of the Chinese horns over the last couple of years. Remember, just a few years ago Wessex was "cheap Chinese junk" and now they're just as reputable as some American companies (Conn-Selmer I'm looking at you). Yeah, they aren't perfect, but they might be good enough to warrant trying out and making a judgement off of that.

largobone wrote: As far as cheap horns go, why is it so hard to believe that some of them migth be decent nowadays? Maybe Tubenet is a little behind, but many trumpeters and trombonists have been coming around to some of the Chinese horns over the last couple of years. Remember, just a few years ago Wessex was "cheap Chinese junk" and now they're just as reputable as some American companies (Conn-Selmer I'm looking at you). Yeah, they aren't perfect, but they might be good enough to warrant trying out and making a judgement off of that.

That's not the argument here. These are counterfeits which are posing as a trumpet they are not, built by a maker they are not and constructed in a country they are not.

They also, according to him, play very sharp on the octave, but he still reckons they're a bargain if you aren't too picky. There are a couple different threads going here - one where the counterfeiters are exposed for what they are, as it turns out they have been exposed of years. Another where this kiwi instrument reviewer is getting a little grief for his endorsement of cheap junk, in this case also clearly counterfeit, and thus in effect helping promote that business. And there's the inevitable tangent where someone leaps to the defense of Chinese instruments.