Opinions on Troubador

[basil b.]

I just bought a troubadour alto off of ebay and wonder if anyone has any feedback on these? Serial no is 102xxx. I have a beautiful Handcraft Imperial which I love dearly, and have a stencil handcraft that it being repadded. I hear that the troubadors are very heavy horns as is my imperial. I sold an american artist stencil to a friend and she loves it. The martins I've played have better intonation than most. I have an old Zephyr which sounds fantastic but the intonation is very bad.

Basil

[Stencilman]

I saw that alto going cheap and was tempted to jump into that auction, but the Christmas shopping for the kids isn't over so I resisted :-) I've had late Handcrafts, Masters and Troubadors and they all seem like the same horn with tweaks that don't effect the sound or intonation much. All are fine horns.

Never played an Imperial so I can't compare.

Congrats, that is a fine horn.

[Hornlip]

I know it's got that quirky side-key arrangement -- only two keys do the work of three. I've heard that it actually works pretty well -- let us know when you get it set up!!

[garyinla]

I have 2 Troubador altos. They seem very similar to the 3 Handcraft Imperials i have. THe main diference seems to be the right side palm key arrangement which is of unusual design ont he Troubador but works fine.
My 2 Troubadors are silverplated so that is a difference too.
In terms of tone, I cant say because i cant play the Troubadors because they need pad work. But to the extent I can get notes out of the horns, the sound seems very similar to the CommII and Handcraft Imperial. I expect some tone differnce due to the silverplating.

[basil b.]

I got it yesterday and it's in really good shape, it pops nicely and has pretty quiet action. It looks like it may have been relacquered a good while ago, but it has a very nice tone, similar to my Handcraft Imperial. Very free blowing and the intonation is fine.