Several students ask me about the equipment I use. I believe equipment is a highly personal choice based on your physiology, experience, and performance needs – so the items on the list below are not necessarily recommendations, but simply an answer to the question, “What equipment do you play?”
Trombones
Tenor
S.E. Shires Custom Trombones – I currently play 2 of their custom horns on a regular basis:
A .547″ bore horn, which I use for most orchestral and chamber music:
- TII 7YM bell
- TGX tuning slide
- Dual-bore rotor valve
- TB47 slide
- #2 leadpipe
- Greg Black 3G-5G mouthpiece
A .508″ bore horn, which is primarily used in commercial, jazz, and crossover settings, but it also works well in certain, lighter orchestral music:
- S1YM 8″ bell
- SY 1.5 tuning slide
- T08 slide
- #2 leadpipe
- Greg Black 3C L mouthpiece
Bass
I use a King 7B with an independent (“in-line”) rotary valve setup (Bb/F/Gb/D). Since being purchased by Conn-Selmer, the King line of instruments now includes only tenor trombones, with an emphasis on small-bore instruments, but these old basses are special horns with a cult following. It has a funny leadpipe that doesn’t play nice with modern mouthpiece tapers, but I’ve found a Benge 1-1/4H that plays great on it!
Alto
I use a Yamaha YSL-871. I’ve tried a few different mouthpieces, but this is about the only situation where I’ve ever preferred the mouthpiece that comes with the horn – a Yamaha 48A!
Accessories
To see some of the accessories that I recommend for trombonists, check out my blog posts or the Practice Aids page.
Looking to buy a new instrument?
Head over to my blog post called Trombone Shopping for a few pieces of advice to get you on the right track.