Posted by frequent poster on November 10, 2000 at 01:47:42:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Edwards Trombones..........sorry posted by ken k on November 10, 2000 at 00:10:52:
A Northwestern University trombone major (graduate student) bought a Getzen Custom when his Bach 50 dbl Thayer was stolen. He bought it from a Chicagoland dealer and drove up to Elkhorn to pick it up in person from the factory. BOTH Thayers where sticking - even when NEW. The assembly job was so horrible that when he pushed the main tuning slide all the way in his D valve wouldn't turn, and when he pushed his F slide all the way in his F valve wouldn't turn (binding badly, due to horrible tubing alignment).
He took it back up to Elkhorn to have them unsolder the complete bell section and put it back together more carefully. When he showed them the instrument, they told him that they could see "nothing wrong with it".
I have also seen Getzen Customs (Edwards) for sale new that had ridiculous "slop" between outside and inside tuning slide tubes and, again, poor tuning slide alignment. One of them played so stuffy (I had already noticed it, but said nothing.) that the Principal Trombonist in our local orchestra (full time position) laughed out loud after playing it for about ten seconds.
I have also seen SEVERAL Edwards playing slides that had the bottoms of the inside playing slide tubes (ends of the chrome plated stocks) rounded in so bad that they looked as though they must have been chopped off with an electrician's tubing cutter.
The local bass trombonist in our symphony ordered an Edwards bass trombone. He indeed liked the sound, but his bell (new) had so many facets in it ("flat spots" in the curvature of the bell flare) that it looked as though it had been dropped on the floor a couple of times and taken to a guitar and piano store to be repaired. (You know, the eighty-three-year-old man who comes by once a week to see if they "have anything for him to fix".)
Sorry, but I will have to stick to my opinion that they are hyped junk, until I consistantly see otherwise.