Edwards T350 Tenor Trombone

Chris Thomas, the Principal Trombonist of the Buy As You View Band takes a personal look at the Edwards T350 trombone and how a top qulaity product was tailored for his specific needs.

This is the straight tenor instrument; attaching the f valve turns it into a T350. The range of options for bell, slide and leadpipe configurations are truly mind-boggling, so I'll just stick to what I ended up with!

My bell is 321CF, which is a yellow tempered bell. The rim is unsoldered, which allows the bell to resonate a little more than an unsoldered bell. I like a little feedback from my instrument and this bell gave me a little more than the soldered bells. The gauge of the bell is .22, with two sizes both thicker and thinner available. I have since taken delivery of an identical bell with the new ‘Satin' finish and I must say that I'm hugely impressed with its handling - the sound is round across the entire range and at both extremes of dynamic.

My slide is a ‘TN' (tenor with nickel and a .547 bore). This slide reacts in a different way from the due the nickel sleeves and the nickel crook. I personally feel that it is a little more ‘open' than the ‘T' slide and handles a little more volume.

The fitting process under David Holt at Edwards' premises is a real revelation; he doesn't tell you the details of what you're playing, as preconceptions tend to colour objectivity. Also, the sound ‘behind the mouthpiece' differs from the sound that reaches the listener, so David asks you how an instrument feels before telling you how it sounds. His descriptions use objective language, so you're not assembling an instrument that he likes, you are working towards your ideal blend of sound, production and control. The finishing touch was a T2 custom leadpipe, which was customised to my specification on-site. I was able to try a range of customisations, but the one I settled on really centred the high register and made it more secure; one needs all the help one can get!

By the end of the day I had tried most of the permutations available before settling on an instrument that not only sounds fine on its own (in my opinion, anyway!), but blends well with my section (we all made the trip and so all benefited from this process).

I'm delighted with my Edwards T350 trombone and cannot recommend the whole Valve experience highly enough.

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas began playing at the age of 12.

Membership of the Mid Glamorgan Youth Band (with most of the current Cory Band!) and then the National Youth Brass Band of Wales ensured swift progress.

At the age of 16, he detoured across the Severn Bridge to Sun Life and spent four years there before joining the Cory Band as Solo Trombone in 1989.

A long road that went through Stockport, Auckland, Bedwas & Tredegar led back to Ton Pentre, when Chris re-joined Cory in May, 2000.

He was British Open Solo Champion twice has represented UK banding twice in the 'International Brass Musician of the Year' contest in New Zealand, with one win and one runner-up spot.

He trombone tutor to the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and has performed as Soloist with them on a number of occasions, the most recent of which was in July, where he was featured in Alun Hoddinott's Concerto Grosso.

Chris is Head of ICT at Abertillery Comprehensive School in Blaenau Gwent.

Reproduced from the Buy As You View Band website

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