Brass musical instruments

Originally Posted by RobGreen

Are newer instruments made of different/cheaper material? Thanks!

Is there anything "newer", that we can think of anyway, that is Not built "of different/cheaper material". Let's think about this please, as we have a moment of silence for the good ol days ; ) I played a baritone in school, a band instructor even sold me one he'd played in the Air Force Band, for $25. It was a tarnished and worn old silver one(you could even see in places the old tarnished brass underneath). All the "new" ones then were shiny solid brass ones, nothing was silver anymore. I played it on through high school, but mostly at home. In marching band and parades I used the schools shiny brass valve trombone. After high school I still played a bit, but had come to know that no matter how fast you could play one, you could still only play one note at a time, even if it was a 128th note, so I finally picked up a guitar, and began strumming 6 notes at a time. Years later I found myself in New Orleans, about starving to death while trying to land a job in the offshore oilfields, in an old Ford van, with a beat up old baritone somewhere in the back. It was a historic brand name but I can't recall what it was, out of Cincinnati I believe, and I made a deal with a pawn shop to swap me an $89 guitar for the baritone and an $89 pawn ticket. I'd play guitar down at Jackson Square for tips and an occasional beer, usually wind up down on the levee about daylight, along with the rest of the "street musicians" crowd, sippin on our last beers and playing a few tunes, watching the sun come up. (I'd probably done much better to have used the baritone and got in a Jazz band up on Bourbon street, but that's life I guess) Finally landed an offshore drilling job and left the N.O. street scene behind, picking up that old silver baritone, with the brass showing through, when I had a $100, and dropping it off again, when I needed a hundred back, until once I didn't get back to pick it up again. Ohwell! Wonder what it's worth now?

Like they said, the magnet. If it's a good old one, you'll likely find at least the valve springs to be spring steel, the valve stems and bodies possibly stainless, but probably not on today's models, and a steel spring on any "spit valves". If the magnet sticks to any part of the body, try Ebay first, then to shred