Pocket Trumpet

[Destrox]

On a recent trip to New York City, we saw a guy in an outdoor cafe busking playing a pocket trumpet. My dad (marched trumpet with Madison Scouts) had never seen one before and has been talking about it ever since. I've been thinking about getting him one for Christmas, but since I am a woodwind, I'm not sure what are good brands and that sort of thing. I was thinking about getting a used one off of eBay, but all the ones there looked like cheap retailers and not an actual player selling one. Any ideas?

[jojosax]

hi most of the pocket trumpet are produced in china or taiwan, I am not sure but I think that no high level trumpet manufacturer (bach getzen etc) have model of pocket trumpet. in the past there were few but now all those trumpet comes from asia.

Some of those pocket trumpet are well build and some chinese are better than others but you should ask you shop. Anyway the price are below 400USD

[monzamess]

You can see some details about mine in my "cheap instruments" link below. In this case I think I can recommend it. It's a cheap investment in case he decides to give it up, and at the same time, the instrument is just (barely) good enough that if he does give up, it probably won't be because of the instrument. The valves move freely. It comes with a copy of the Bach 7C mouthpiece. It's obviously not top quality, but very playable.

Pocket trumpets have more resistance than normal ones, and except for a very few high-end pieces, they're generally considered toys or maybe good for practice. So in this case a cheap low-end horn, normally to be avoided, might fit the bill.

If he's still playing after a while, convince him to get a good full-size trumpet.

[tjontheroad]

I have a cheapy Jean Baptiste pocket trumpet I toot on for fun every once in a while. It only cost me $150. It plays pretty well even for a total novice like me. Sounds cool too. It also makes for a nice shelf decoration in my living room. I take it on trips sometimes.

Here's the one from Sam Ash; http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?SKU=JBPT183XX&ovchn=FRO&ovcpn=FROOGLE&ovcrn=JBPT183XX&ovtac=CMP

[gary]

This might help: http://www.dallasmusic.org/gearhead/Pocket%20trumpets.html

[cleger]

My good friend Dennis Gonzalez (http://hometown.aol.com/dennisgonzalezx/axes.html) playes an Amati pocket trumpet to good effect. I see one online at Music 123 (http://www.music123.com/Amati-ATR-314I-Pocket-Trumpet-461957-i1143126.Music123) for what seems to a sax player to be a pretty reasonable price.

[Destrox]

Thanks everyone for the help! I was gonna split the cost with my brother, but he decided to not help pay for it. So now I don't know if I'm even gonna buy one. Thanks for all the help though!