Here's my pride and joy. A cheap Chinese made French Horn that I got for $110 used on eBay in 2004. In this short video, I attempt to demonstrate that it's actually a decent instrument so long as you can get past the low build quality. I'm using my Schilke 31B and I suggest you do too unless the 32 is your thing. Small French Horn mouthpieces are useless unless you enjoy pure unadulterated pain. Unlike their cheap Chinese built cohorts of other instrument varieties, these French Horns come with features that you can't really match any other way, not even minding the price. Considering that a spit valve is like a bonus feature for French Horns, this thing is pretty spiffy for having one on top of adjustable trigger, mechanical rotors, reversible trigger setting, and screw bell. Not that you need a reversible trigger or screw bell but still. These horns aren't without quirks. First, as I tried to display in the beginning, the horn is not tuned to A440. Second, the solder quality is poor. Third, Geyer wrap horns are known for having smaller bell throats and this horn is actually on the beefy side. Result: Intonation issues that normally do not plague the French Horn. Finally, you just plain don't get much slide to work with on the valve slides. My F-side 3rd valve is almost out all the way. None of these problems are detrimental, but they're slightly annoying. All in all, I'd say that these French Horns are actually worth bothering with. You might consider seeking a fix for the slide deficiency if you've got the money. Horn is standard .500"-.468" tubing, so coming up with brass for the slides is easy. Heck, at least with these you get an instrument which is generally superior to anything else for the price. The others are all comparable to more legit instruments and come with bore sizes that are just stupidly large. .460 for a cornet? Just no. I would have recorded more, but the YouTube kept screwing up and I got tired of redoing it.

• published: 03 Dec 2009
• views: 7448