Bach Trumpets Isn't What It Used to Be

The Bach is the default answer to "what should I buy." This episode asks what that recommendation means now that the plant making it is gone.

• The Elkhart, Indiana factory that built the professional Bach line for generations closed in 2016, and Stradivarius production moved to China under Conn-Selmer. The brand, the model numbers, and the prices barely changed - what changed was where each joint got soldered and who was watching.
• For decades the "Made in USA" stamp on a pro Bach was genuinely true, while the student and intermediate TR line had long been assembled from parts made elsewhere - sometimes by the same Chinese OEM factory that now makes the pro horns. That is why 2016 mattered: for the first time, the pro line itself left Elkhart.
• The floor problem is the whole argument. A small shop of lifelong brass workers kept both the floor and ceiling high; a scaled-up operation in another country can drop the floor even if the ceiling holds. You are not guaranteed a bad horn, but you no longer get the same guarantee of consistency.
• The "Made in USA" label stopped being a reliable proxy for quality. Repair techs who open every horn say a post-2016 unit can be flawless or need work on day one, and the serial number will not tell you which. The same factory builds unbranded OEM horns for other brands on the same line.
• The vintage premium is real and not just nostalgia. A clean pre-2016 37 or 42 in silver plate often costs more than a new one because of specific construction details - leadpipe soldering, valve cap work, intonation - that a generation of players can tell when they are gone.
• There is plain economics behind it too: Elkhart-era horns are finite, the good ones get fewer every year, and a finite supply with steady demand holds its value and often climbs.
• The 180ML is still a great horn, but it no longer wins by default. This is genuinely contested in the repair trade - some techs say post-2016 180s are fine, others say consistency has slipped in intonation and valve work - so you should play the specific unit rather than trust the model.
• The practical test: play it on real music for longer than thirty seconds, check the fourth-line D, top-of-staff G, and low C-sharp, look at the leadpipe soldering if you can, and listen for buzz or sticky valves before you commit.
• If it passes, buy it with confidence. If it does not, the alternatives are a Yamaha Xeno, a Schilke, a King, or a used Elkhart-era Stradivarius someone has already vouched for.
• Buying vintage? You are paying for a build that no longer exists, from a higher and more consistent floor - so confirm it has been serviced recently, because an old horn with worn valves is a project, not a purchase.
• The bottom line: the name on the bell is no longer enough on its own. Ask which horn, specifically, and how does it play - then let that decide, not the logo.

Read the full article, Bach Trumpets Isn't What It Used to Be, at TrumpetStudio.com, and check out Trumpet Studioon the App Store.

Michael Droste's books include The Ultimate Warm Up Book, The Ultimate Technical Study, and The Ultimate Wedding Book for Trumpet.

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