Buying a French Horn

binx
Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:29:17 +0000

Oh goodie, I get to talk about horns.

John Ericson has a very informative website, including tips for beginning horn players. (Horn players seldom call it a “french” horn when talking among themselves. They don’t acknowledge any other kind of horn – especially sax. )

[Horn Articles Online](Horn Articles Online)
[Getting Started on the Horn](Getting Started on the Horn)

We’ve been through a few horns at our house. First two horns were school horns (simultaneous - one left at school, one left at home for practice). They were Holtons, which is a pretty common school horn brand.

First horn we bought was a Yamaha 668D that we ordered from woodwindbrasswind.com. WWBW does a good job, is cheaper than most places selling new horns. I think we paid around $2500 for it.

S2 tried various horns at a music store first, to see what he liked (and his teacher did as well, and they compared notes), then we ordered it from wwbw online. But horns are individual, and the one we got had some problems with it. So we sent it back to be fixed, got it returned to us smashed. While UPS and Yamaha argued over who’s fault it was, Yamaha sent S2 a new one.

He played that for 3 years (8th-10th), then bought a used Lawson via hornplayer.net (best place to find used horns.) Can’t remember what we paid - $4-5k, I think. The Lawson got him into Juilliard. Sophomore year of college, he bought a Conn from his teacher. ($3500) The Conn lasted until this winter when it “died.” Horns, unlike violins, do NOT get better with advanced age. The Conn was over 50 years old, and just didn’t work as well anymore.

S2 is currently in China with his Lawson (which he kept for back-up, fortunately). Meanwhile, we have here an Engelbert Schmid on spec (nearly $10k), waiting for him to finish testing it when he returns from China. (Also located via hornplayer.net.)

Some real basics: since tallson is considering playing it in college, get a double horn. Singles are mostly used by middleschooler beginners.

The “D” in the Yamaha 668D stands for detachable bell. (aka “cut bell” or “screw bell” - opposite of “fixed bell” which does not come off the horn.) Jury is out on which is “better” or if it makes a difference in sound. But the detachable bell fits in a smaller case that can be carried on airplanes (usually) etc. Aside from the fixed bell horns S2 used at school, he has only had cut bells.

Do NOT buy a horn on ebay - there are many scams involving horns on ebay - not sure of the details, but it involves cheaply made horns (China?) being sold as something different. I think they usually offer them around $500. NOT a deal! Worth nothing.

Horns come in yellow brass, rose brass (a pinkish color), and nickel silver. Slightly different sounds - go with what you like.

Here’s another good site - check out the list of links under “equipment” - she addresses what things to look for:
[url=http://juliashornpage.com/topics.html]FAQ[/url]