A Wonderful Nice British horn that is in Great shape!

　　A full toned

　　beauty in Satin Blast brass with clear lacquer!

　　This is an outstanding Trumpet and a top-quality

　　instrument by one of the largest trumpet makers in the world. This horn is a

　　Stratford model made by Besson. They were a part of the Boosey and Hawkes

　　empire when this one was made. The bell is engraved “Besson, Stratford, Made in

　　England”. There is a number 1 at the bottom of the first valve tube. The serial

　　number is stamped under the bell by the second valve casing and is 189053. That

　　dates the horn to 1954. I have had this horn for several months and decided to

　　make it look as nice as it plays. It had a severely crushed and mangled bell

　　flair and rim. So I disassembled the horn and ultrasonic cleaned it then

　　stripped off the old bad lacquer. Almost all noticeable dents were fixed and

　　just a few small ones and some bell ripples are left. The bell rim was

　　completely bent backwards but it still played nice so I put a LOT of time into

　　working the rim and flair back to respectable shape. I then did a Satin bead

　　blast on the body and the slides and they look great. There are nickel outer

　　slide tubes on all the valves and the tuning slides. Then I did clear lacquer

　　over the horn and Brushed the caps and buttons. It's in excellent mechanical

　　condition - all the tuning slides work smoothly, including the first and third

　　which are usually frozen and require some kind of repair. There are NO missing

　　pull tabs (rare in a used horn). The third valve slide has a new ring to give a

　　nice throw. It also has new “O” bumpers to quiet it when pulling the slide

　　back. The valves work freely and spring back into place with ease. They have

　　almost no wear and are very solid. They are pretty quiet for a horn that was made

　　in 1954. I have put in new felts and springs! The buttons, top caps, and bottom

　　caps all have a nice brushed glow to them. I did have to replace the second

　　bottom cap and the design is not an exact match but it still looks nice.  The horn is set up much like a French Besson

　　with the forward facing second valve slide! There are no big dents in any of

　　the tubing and as we said earlier, just a few small pings and several ripples

　　from wear and dent removal. The bell engraving is in nice readable shape. THE

　　HORN IS CONSTRUCTED LIKE A TANK TO LIVE FOREVER!!! I played a Conn Director

　　Cornet as my first horn and it always had a wonderful clear tone, as does this

　　one (Melanie said I sound great on this horn, lol, as always). The tone is dark

　　and powerful down low but brightens considerably over the staff and the horn

　　plays very well in all registers. It has the old FULL big band sound. This horn

　　plays as almost as well as the Kanstul made 609 Besson that I have! The trumpet

　　comes with a nice mouthpiece. You also get the very nice old plastic hard-sided

　　Besson case, which you see in the pictures. It is black textured look outside

　　and clean black horn shape on the inside. There is an embossed Besson on the

　　outside and the latches and hinges still work very well. The inside shows light

　　wear and looks good. No doubt about it this is a solid case! This is your

　　chance - why spend upwards of $200 for a new Chinese trumpet, or buy a new

　　Besson for well over $1200 when you can pick this up for a lot less than that?

　　Take a look...it’s a great horn for a student, intermediate player, comeback

　　player, or collector. It is also a great horn for someone who wants to

　　experiment with the old big band brass sound! Winning Bidder pays shipping per

　　the Ebay calculator in the lower 48 states. Other shipping is per the chart.

　　Don’t miss this

　　piece of English history!

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　　bidding.

　　 NOW: I am taking on horns for refinish and repairs. I have

　　done well over 1000 horns and am sure you will be happy with the results. Our

　　feedback shows WE TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS! Please e-mail me with questions

　　or work you need.

　　And HEY, have a

　　great day!