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Often, I see listings of horns for sale that emphasize that the horn would be a good horn for a student. And some of them probably would be, but others are in reality substandard or even bad horns you would be better off avoiding for a variety of reasons.
As it is also a question people ask often, it inspired me to lay out the following topics. There are a number of factors that make a horn a bad horn. The horn in the photos that follow, I’m not going to name the brand, beyond that it is Chinese and not a good horn at all.
Too big
Truthfully, the size and left-hand position on this Chinese horn is not that bad. And it is fairly compact which is a plus.
The really bad horns in this category are some of the older US made horns, which come up for sale frequently. Many are really big and would be hard to hold by a smaller person. You should not give a student a horn that is hard to hold, don’t give them reasons to quit!
Single F horns can be particular offenders on the overall size issue. Which is especially bad as beginners tend to not be full grown adults.
Bad left-hand position
On double horns, the thumb valve position and motion can be a big issue to check carefully. Remember: if it does not feel good when you try it, it won’t start feeling better later.
The point being that you need to try a horn before you buy, and don’t buy it if it is too big. The plain fact is that a LOT of older horns were aimed at adult male players, and that leaves them as poor choices for a lot of people today, and they were never good choices for younger players. You will spend a lot of time on a horn, it needs to be comfortable to hold.
Bad leadpipe
It has been said that the first 12 inches of the horn are the most important, and this is pretty correct, it is a very important area.
The issue is “hidden,” but with this Chinese horn it is one of the two biggest issues making this horn play very badly. A leadpipe when correctly made has a venturi about an inch up inside, a “small point” of the horn into which the mouthpiece snuggles down into and then opens up into the leadpipe taper. But, on this Chinese horn, there is no venturi! It is big and open; a pencil of any size falls right into the horn. The Venturi as conventionally made varies at a size just under the size of the average pencil. I strongly suspect there is an acoustical nightmare right there. They did supply a mouthpiece with an oversized shank with the horn, probably to compensate for the strange or poorly made venturi, but this key a part of a horn simply should have been made correctly.
Of course, you could replace the leadpipe of this horn and it might play OK, but there are other problems ….
Bad valves
I was honestly astonished how bad the valves are on this Chinese horn. To make valves this bad basically says there is no quality control, the people making this horn did not care.
What makes this issue worse than the leadpipe issue is that while the leadpipe could be replaced, the valves are what they are, and they are really bad. They simply were not manufactured correctly; you can’t put the valves together with the top bearing seated down fully, and then we get to the mechanics of the action. The issue is something about the fulcrum points and ball joints not being placed correctly. Things just don’t work well no matter how clean and how much oil. It looks like a horn, but this is just not a usable horn.
Speaking generally, you also need to examine the “compression” of the valves, which gives you an impression of how tight or leaky the valves are. If they are too leaky for sure the horn won’t play as well as you would like.
Bad braces
This horn has a broken brace and it could be fixed, but in this case the broken brace is also due to bad design, there is only that one brace on the first valve side of the valve cluster keeping the middle of the horn in place. Not a good design, and it did not hold up.
Speaking generally, often horns at a low price point had some of the parts jammed together, instead of the parts fitting very correctly. Broken braces are often a sign of this.
Valve tube issues
The valve tubes mostly work fine on this horn, but many of the inner tubes are cut off very short relative to the length of the outer tubes, if that makes sense. Acoustically this is not a good scheme, but, with the crazy bad leadpipe and bad valves, I suppose this is not much of an issue on this horn? Still, it was not made correctly.
On the plus side, they move pretty well. Some horns there will be issues related to the tubes not being parallel, which can usually be addressed but is an issue to watch for.
Odd design
While this Chinese horn looks kind of like a Geyer, it is not a Geyer style horn, it is a modified design. If you were to really play this horn you would find it an ongoing challenge to get water out of the F side.
On the other hand, at least you can tell what the slides do easily compared to other popular horns. Some older designs are just odd and confusing as to function and location of the main and other slides. These are often a poor choice.
Dents and dings
This horn has a couple big dents, but it is in good shape generally, probably because it was not played very much. Which is to say, sometimes a horn in really good condition is that way because it has problems, and does not play well.
I suspect that the original player of this horn was a beginner and they may have just quit horn after playing it for a year. This was not the outcome desired — hopefully they moved on to a better horn. I’ll never know.
Water key?
Speaking generally better horns SHOULD have a water key, but reality is that due to “tradition” some very good horns continue to be made with no water key. On the other hand, some bad horns (such as this horn) are made with a water key! I think sometimes the goal is to give parents a perception of being better quality than it is.
In any event, I hope to see a day when every horn is built with a water key in my lifetime — but if that actually happens, I have no idea.
Lacquer?
The lacquer here is in good shape, that is a plus. But the horn was hardly played.
In a prior article I also mentioned that I’m not a fan of the “brushed” finish used on some rebuilt horns aimed at students and amateurs. See that article for more on the topic. The issue is that often this is done as a way to hide flaws rather than as a type of bling.
Built like a tank
Some bad horns are built like a tank. This one honestly is not too bad. I’ve played worse. The bell is very reasonable.
If a horn is too heavy you end up working hard, it won’t be as responsive to play. Of course, a light horn will dent more easily, but there are solid reasons why more expensive horns are generally not so heavy.
My plans for this horn?
I obtained this horn from a former student who had been given the horn by a third party. For me this is a parts horn. The bell has an unusually small throat, and looks intriguing in relation to my projects and interest in horns of the 19th century. Which has me looking closer, as I’m likely to either try putting this bell on one of my project horns (one single F in particular is on the radar) or use it as the basis of a plausible natural horn. And I can make use of the slide tubes, braces, etc. in various ways as I work on things in the future.
You get what you pay for
If it is a bad horn, it is actually just a bad horn, it will never be a good deal to play – and it may discourage someone from continuing on the horn. Don’t buy a bad horn.
A competent horn teacher will have some ideas of horns that are good choices for your situation, talk to them, the honest advice is worth it.
