Chords for 110 Year Old Besson and Co Prototype G Bass Trombone

_ [Cm] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Cm] _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ Hello and welcome it is fantastic to have you here.
Today I have a nearly _ [N] 110 year old _ _
trombone to show you.
This is a Besson & Co prototype _ _ trombone, a G bass trombone with
the serial number _ _ 9810 which puts its date of manufacture at before _ _ 1912.
So it's about,
this was rocking into the world about the same time as the Titanic was doing its little
thing.
_ And it is a very interesting instrument because it has a number of characteristics
that we just simply do not see these days.
But the first thing I'm going to show you
is the case, because the case in itself is also very fascinating.
And here it is.
It
is the sleeve of peeled cow.
_ It is very thin.
The latch is broken.
We have a mouthpiece
bag up here that's got this weird sort of toggle thing on it.
But what's very interesting
is that when you put your trombone into the case, you put it into its two halves, the
slide and the bell section, and you just throw them down into this bag and that is how it's
transported.
_ If I tip this up, you might be able to see that there is a, _ there is a divider,
a fabric divider halfway down here.
It's just a sheet of, just a little piece of fabric and
that's it.
And then there's this just that just goes over the top.
That's it.
That's all there
is to protect the well-being of this instrument.
And _ so given that, and given the fact that this
instrument is over 110 years old, the fact that it is in as good condition as it is, is simply
remarkable.
There are no major dents to speak of.
The finish is still very good and the slide
functions brilliantly.
So let's take a look at this instrument.
Starting at the top, you'll
notice that this standing on the ground is substantially longer than a normal trombone,
because it is in the key of G.
_ Starting at the top, we've got the main tuning slide here,
which I haven't managed to unseize yet.
There are no counterweights whatsoever, and there are only
these two braces.
Something that we just simply do not see anymore.
Then moving down, we have this
piece of fabric here that has been sewn in place to just sort of protect the clothing of whatever
you're wearing.
_ We've got a slide, a bell brace here, and then the bell, which is a very small
bell.
It's less, it's about eight inches or so.
_ In fact, it's probably less than eight inches,
seven and a half or so.
And because of the length between the end of the bell and this brace, when
you're playing it, this tends to wiggle around quite a lot.
It's quite unconcerting.
Next thing
to note, there is no lock between the bell section and the slide section.
You just simply put it on,
_ and just sort of tighten it.
It's an interference tapered fit, and then you just hold it in place.
That's all there is to prevent, to keep the two parts together, which is a little bit disconcerting,
[Ab] but you know, there you are.
Moving on to the slide section, the slide [Ab] also doesn't have a
slide lock.
[C] You just hold it in place there with your little [Ab] finger.
The slide has got a handle on
it, and if I come up close, we will see, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] _ _ _ we can see the way that this slide _ handles the differences
in position.
_ So that's very interesting, because the handle, of course, on a trombone needs a very
wide range of movement to be able to do its job.
The handle itself is made out of wood, and then we
have the rest of the slide.
There's your standard arrangement at the other end, nothing too much to
speak of there.
The slide itself would have been [Ab] _ _ silver plated, probably at some stage, but it is
now just _ raw brass.
It is a raw brass finish, and then we have _ a distinct step up to whatever metal
the stockings are made out of.
[N] The slide is dual-bore, _ meaning this tube is much thinner than this tube,
which means you can't put the slide on the wrong way, _ because it just simply doesn't fit.
And the
last thing to mention about the slide is that it is incredibly loose.
The quality of the seal between
the stockings and the outer slide is very poor, and [E] that may have something to do with the fact that I
think all of the original silver plating is worn off, or it just may be a characteristic of trombones
from back then.
I just simply don't know.
But it functions brilliantly.
_ But even though the slide
works very well and is relatively very quiet, it's not a trombone that you can play in a vigorous
manner, because the whole thing has a very small bore.
This is a small bore _ mouthpiece, even though
it is specifically designed for a G trombone, it is a very small bore mouthpiece, and that gives the
instrument a whole, a big lack of stability.
It's, when you're playing it and you're sort of moving
around, the whole thing wobbles a bit [Ab] disconcertingly, and when you're using the extra leverage of the
handle on the slide, then it makes it just even that little bit more [C] precarious about when you
play it.
You sort of are aware that you're holding something that is, or at least feels, very fragile.
_ Now I've done a video on the G bass trombone before, so the history of the instrument, why we have them,
or why we had them, etc.
That's been explored a little bit _ in the past in an instrument that
was only 70 years old, and you can find that video by clicking up in the link here, or seeing the
[Gb] description down below. _
But I'll play just a couple of notes on this, and give, to give you guys an
idea of what it sounds like. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
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_ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
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_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ebm] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _
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_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [C] Let me know, I'll be very interested if you have ever seen a G bass trombone before, and for anyone who's actually had the
opportunity to play one [A] of these, I'll be very interested to [C] hear from you.
So please write a
note in the comments below, and just tell me if you've got any experience with these instruments,
and what you think of them, [G] if you do.
[Ab] Thanks very much for watching.
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[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
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