Description

Selmer Claude Gordon  S/n 001800 RARE!

Not the prettiest girl at the ball, but boy can she dance!  The lacquer is pretty much non existent.  No dents, dings, or trauma.  Recently sonically cleaned at the HornTrader.

1990 Selmer Claude Gordon Selmer model Bb trumpet. This is a lightweight large bore trumpet that was designed after Claude Gordon’s old French Besson with a .470 Bore. Claude moved from Benge to Selmer (actually the Bach plant in Elkhart) because he wanted to produce a .470 bore horn and the CG Benges were .468. Only about 2,000 of these horns were made and they are highly sought after as one of the most free blowing large bore horns ever made.

The ultra lightweight valve section has one piece casings, wafer thin top and bottom caps and finger tips, and gold anodized aluminum valve stems. Precisely tapered .470 bore for expansive volume, tone and ease of playing. Solid nickel silver leadpipe. 4 3/4′ one piece hand hammered bell is graduated to extreme lightness and responsiveness.
Brass tuning slides and cork water key seals. Top sprung non corroding Monel metal pistons hand lapped for precise fit for valve action that is fast, light and positive. Quiet nylon two point valve guides.  Valve caps screw into, not onto, valve casings; vulnerable valve casing threads are inside, protected from damage.  The third valve slide has a fixed finger ring and an adjustable stop.  Clear laquer finish, nickel silver trim.  Refined bracing and trim help make this one of the most comfortable trumpets you have ever lifted to play. And at 27 ounces with mouthpiece, it is also among the lightest. Valves and slides are smooth. The horn is in excellent mechanical condition.

This horn is a rarity!- a truly hand built instrument made at the Bach factory. Unlike the Bach Strads, Claude insisted that the CG Selmers be made completely by hand. And with the thin metal used for the bell and the thin nickel metal used for the leadpipe, it sometimes took several attempts to successfully create these parts. As a result of the extra time it took to build them, I believe the Bach factory lost money on every CG Selmer they built (the retail price for a CG Selmer was the same as for a Bach Strad at the time).

Another point of interest: The final design specified that the leadpipe be made out of nickel-silver, because when brass was used to make the leadpipe, it couldn’t hold up to the pressure used by most players in the upper register due to the thinness of the metal as Claude specified. As a side benefit, the Solid nickel silver leadpipe on these horns are much more resistant to corrosion than the typical brass ones.  No Case/MPC

It also comes with a VHS Video of Claude Gordon’s clinic presented by Selmer