It seems to be a common assumption in trumpet circles that the original Mt. Vernon Strads were superior to the mass produced horns Selmer now sales under the Bach Strad logo. I know in my own experience the first Strad I owned, manufactured right after Vincent Bach sold the company, but while he was still personally involved with quality control at Selmer, was vastly superior to the last Bach I owned. That last Bach by the way is likely to be the last Bach I ever own. But I can't help but wonder, just exactly what did Selmer change? Does anyone have any particular or specific knowledge about this? I'm not asking just about the mass production aspect and numbers manufactured thing. I'm wondering about design changes. Sam
TrumpetChat
In my experience the Mt. Vernon's are lighter than present day Bach Strads, I've been told that the lightweight Strad is closer to the original Bach Strad design. Other changes Selmer has made:
- Two piece valve casings replaced with one piece valve casings
- Receiver length shortened
- Method of assembling reciever changed....Current ones are supposedly press fit on, sometimes resulting in indentation of leadpipe
- Bell mandrels are not the same
- At least one great lead pipe is not available any more
