Helpful-Trumpet-Guide.com

BUYING A FLUGELHORN

A flugelhorn is a nice addition to your arsenal, especially if you find yourself playing in jazz-related settings. It has a naturally softer tone (and, from personal experience, a much more forgiving sound).

During the early 1980's I bought a used Getzen Capri Series Flugelhorn, which is actually a lower level horn, for about $300. It has served me extremely well ever since. Amazingly, I received very positive feedback from the day I got it, and I didn't even have experience playing it! So that should tell you how forgiving it's sound is! :-).

My point here is that the right flugelhorn should be a pleasure to play, and should make you sound good from the start!

A few notes about Flugelhorns:

- A flugelhorn uses a different mouthpiece than a trumpet. The cup diameter is the same, but the interior shape of the flugelhorn mouthpiece is different, which also contributes to the unique and mellow sound.

- There are some flugelhorns with 4 valves, where the 4th value aids in the playing of lower tones. Most flugelhorns, though, come with 3 valves, like a trumpet, and this is the type of flugelhorn I would recommend.

- Some flugelhorns may come without a tuning slide. I've never personally understood why this is, but you'll want to verify that the flugelhorn you choose has one.

As always, try as many flugelhorns as possible before making a decision. This type of horn should feel natural and pleasant to play from the beginning!

Here are some flugelhorns I can recommend that you try. There are more expensive ones out there, but I feel these horns provide a good balance of quality and value:

And once again, don’t forget EBAY! You can find pretty much anything nowadays on Ebay and if you know what you’re looking for, a search will return many excellent results. As you are likely aware, you can save A LOT of money going this route. Just be sure to deal with a trusted seller who will let you return the instrument in case it turns out not to be what was advertised.

Try these quick flugelhorn searches on EBAY: