New Brass Flugel Horn w/Case.Approved+Warranty

Re-learning trumpet to play in a community big band and had a good trumpet in the attic. There are a few pieces with flugel parts, but hey, do I really know if this is going to work out to justify a $600-1000 horn ? Nope.At just over $200 ($219), this will allow me to dip my toes into playing flugel again. If things work out and I outgrow the horn in a year, no problem, it was $200. If it breaks in a year, ditto. And it may just be sufficient for 2-3 pieces from a 40 song book, if it can play in tune and doesn't spontaneously disassemble itself into its component parts. Update: It can and DOES play in tune with itself. 2+ years in and still a great horn. No problems with intonation, no mechanical issues. Absolutely no maintenance required beyond touching up the oil every few days of playing. Upgraded from 4 to 5 stars based on several years of history.Now to the horn. Came with an OK case, the inside is formed foam, covered by cheap velour. Does the job sufficiently, and I'll probably get a flugel/trumpet combo case to haul both pieces anyway.Came with a mouthpiece (description was silent on this), appears to be a clone of your basic student grade Yamaha mp. Sufficient for initial work, will accept a Yamaha taper for future reference (would also have been nice in the description so you can order a mouthpiece at the same time if so inclined).Finish - you can see some swirls in the polish before they applied the lacquer. Not a perfect mirror, but hey - $200. Buy a used horn and you'll have finish issues, too. Again, sufficient given the investment and purpose. Looks good from arms length away.The valves - 1 and 3 were perfect out of the box. Slick, positive, fast. #2 was sluggish coming up. Tried oiling, wiping. Still sluggish.Update: valves have been rock solid and smooth for 2, going on 3 years. I do think the springs are a bit stiff, and am going to try putting some Yamaha springs in to lighten them up. Update: Yamaha valve springs are now in, and the valves are a bit faster. They've always been pretty smooth but felt the springs were too strong. Get the Yamaha springs after you've got the valves broken in, for an instant upgrade.Was on the path to a home-valve lap job with toothpaste (not willing to drop money on a repair, nor let them laugh me out of the shop), and decided to first give the valve and the tube a good scrubbing. Got out the shotgun cleaning rod and ran a few patches through - lots of grey on the patch. I expected this, and should have planned to give the horn a bath anyway. Has to be manufacturing oils left behind and who knows how long it was in storage after manufacture. Ran the 12-gauge bronze brush thru a dozen times slowly, made sure it cleared out the guide channel - clean as a whisker. More patches, then I couldn't find my shotgun mop so I made a "snake/tampon" of twisted lint-free shop towel and pushed it thru. Nice and clean.On to the valve barrel. Near the top on one side there were still some machine marks from the grinding/fitting. The grain of these marks was across the barrel, and rough to the touch. Hit it ever so lightly with some 600 grit (would have user 800 or higher if I had it close to hand) sandpaper to polish - just lightly brushed it up and down the barrel in this area only - not taking any material, just polishing and setting any surface texture in the same direction as the piston movement. Like polishing a feed ramp, less is more, here. Dozen or so strokes, smooth as a baby's bottom. Wiped and washed, then oiled and into the horn. Voila ! Nice fast valve like the others. I'll keep an ear out for any compression loss, maybe switch to a heavier oil if that shows up.Nice tone, nice enough for my setting, anyway, tucked away in the ensemble. Looks like this will serve it's purpose. Very pleased. If it can play in tune with itself, that is. Update: It can and does. Rock solid intonation.Note: this is marked "Hawk", and there is another horn listed by that brand on Amazon for $350 or so. This is a different model - this has a third valve tuning slide that the other lacks, and for what it's worth, there is a section of the tube that's finished in a rose brass. Also, this horn is a .460 bore (trumpet like), the other is .430 (closer to flugel standard). For my money, go for the cheaper horn - you either go with the disposable cheap option that might work out, or spend enough to get more of a known quantity. YMMV.If you can tolerate a little risk and imperfection, and are handy and know just a little about horn maintenance (or have a web browser and access to the google where you can learn), this is a good "nothing to lose" horn, and will certainly tide me over until I spot a good used horn if and when I need to upgrade. If you want perfect out of the box, no risk, pony up the $800+ for a Jupiter.

Purchased this horn 5 years ago. The valves were fast after oiling them the first time. The mouthpiece nickel plating wore off the rim within a year of the purchase so I ordered a Bach Megatone mouthpiece and that fit and sounded really good. This horn has good tone quality and slots the tone very well. Regarding the case, I purchased a horn stand that is stored in the bell when in the case, I had to do some modification to the case so the stand would fit in the case with the horn, going to buy a Flugelhorn gig bag. Being a comeback player my Benge Claude Gordon trumpet and this flugelhorn will be a great combination of horns when i do have an oppertunity to join a band. Great horn for the price, looks good too!

The flugelhorn has a sweet tone and looks good. I have had no issue with the pistons or valves. Good value for the money.Update: Now that I’ve been using the horn for several months, I've seen that the valves can get stuck more easily than my other horns. So regular oiling is a must. Also, sometimes it’s a challenge to get the valves back into the horn correctly. I now just pull one valve out at a time, oil it, and put it straight back in the same way I pulled it out.Otherwise, the horn still sounds good—nice mellow sound.

I plan on doing a follow up review after playing the instrument for a few months, but I am very impressed with it initially. I have been playing trumpet for 30+ years and have been a band director for 20 years. After unpacking the instrument I was pleasantly surprised with the great tone. The valves look decent and moved free and quick, but after taking one out, it took a little to get it lined up for it to go back in smoothly. That was the first sign for me of a economy line instrument.The tone was what has sold me on the horn. The finish looks brand new. There is a tiny defect in the finish by the bell where there is a wave of finish and is not quite smooth, but again not very noticeable at all. I didn't have to pay thousands for a good sounding flugelhorn.

I am not a horn player but have player the trombone in the past and have toyed with the trumpet. I say this so you understand where I am coming from. I was really pleased with this horn when it arrived. Totally new, still in the shipping wrappings. I oiled the values and got them moving really good; no drag and I didn't have to clean them either. I love the sound; very mellow. I have no problem with the mouthpiece, it is a nice fit for me and will probably just keep it and use it. I know others have said they upgraded the mouthpiece, but as a newer player I think it is good. Overall this is a really nice horn for the price, great for a beginner to intermediate player. I know I am going to have fun with it.

UPDATED: have purchased a Bach 7C flugelhorn mouthpiece to replace the unmarked mp that came with the instrument (after researching taper sizes). Based on my caliper measurements, a "standard, Large Morse/Yamaha" taper is too wide by 0.015" or so to fit deeply enough in the leadpipe. I hope the Bach taper will fit properly.Until I develop some chops, I can't speak to the overall quality of the instrument (intonation, say, or responsiveness), but the construction appears rock solid. Very nice lacquer job and the valves are not at all sticky. The slides slide -- smoothly. The case is robust and well thought out. I played clarinet as a kid (50+ years ago), but didn't want the complexity of the keys and the finicky wood joints, to say nothing of the price tag, at this point in my life. My enthusiasm for the fluegelhorn goes back to an album by Miles Davis my father picked up in the mid-fifties. And the instrument is probably better suited for someone with COPD than the trumpet (wheeze!).