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Mellophone Recommendations


Qwackertoo

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Looking to buy a mellophone for a high school senior who plans to play it also in college. She already plays clarinet and alto sax and has played the school mellophone for two years. Son

started out on clarinet and has switched to Tenor Sax so I'm going broke buying all these instruments. satisfied.gif

Of course I'd love to buy her a Kanstul but want to try to stay below 1K. Have considered Yamaha 204 and Bach 1105. She needs one in F.

Is silver better? The used lacquer ones seem so old and worn out.

Any advice or recommendations is appreciated.

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Looking to buy a mellophone for a high school senior who plans to play it also in college. She already plays clarinet and alto sax and has played the school mellophone for two years. Son

started out on clarinet and has switched to Tenor Sax so I'm going broke buying all these instruments. satisfied.gif

Of course I'd love to buy her a Kanstul but want to try to stay below 1K. Have considered Yamaha 204 and Bach 1105. She needs one in F.

Is silver better? The used lacquer ones seem so old and worn out.

Any advice or recommendations is appreciated.

Never played an "F" mello. Have been told they slot very well. Owned and played a Getzen G and currently play a Kanstul G. Liked the Getzen really well but found the Kanstul to have a better balance as far as weight and less spit accumulating within the horn compared to the Getzen.

Edited by melligene
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Buy used if you can. If you're lucky, you can sell it for what you paid for it. So it's not really money spent from a certain POV.

The yamaha 204 is supposed to be pretty good. If they plan on using it for drumcorps, they should get silver. Unless you're in europe. They tend to cost more, but hold their value better IMO. Various opinions on bell thickness and sound attributes between silver plated and not. With silver generally winning the opinion poll.

For college, I'd be hesitant to use a personal horn. And some groups might not even allow marching mellophones, except some marching bands. So you might want to check on that. With various horror stories about horns getting damaged in transit, and since it's a personal horn, the school (and army when I was in it) wouldn't pay for the repair(s) since it was a personal horn and not their property.

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Buy used if you can. If you're lucky, you can sell it for what you paid for it. So it's not really money spent from a certain POV.

The yamaha 204 is supposed to be pretty good. If they plan on using it for drumcorps, they should get silver. Unless you're in europe. They tend to cost more, but hold their value better IMO. Various opinions on bell thickness and sound attributes between silver plated and not. With silver generally winning the opinion poll.

For college, I'd be hesitant to use a personal horn. And some groups might not even allow marching mellophones, except some marching bands. So you might want to check on that. With various horror stories about horns getting damaged in transit, and since it's a personal horn, the school (and army when I was in it) wouldn't pay for the repair(s) since it was a personal horn and not their property.

Yamaha 204 is the gold standard for mellophones. Wish I had the money for one. If you can find a gently used one, go for it. Carolina Crown may have some used left for sale, contact Eric Sabach. If you want a thorough review of mellos, go to Scooter Pirtle's website The Middle Horn Leader. Great info.

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