Blessing Bells

[erickson8418]

New to the chat and looking for opinions. I have a Blessing B-88-0 trombone. I never really took to it, I also have a getzen eterna medium bore and it felt and sounded so much better for me that I've really stuck with it. Recently someone in our community band was having their instrument worked on so I borrowed them the Blessing. He hated it so much he returned it to me only after a week. He said the sound just seemed dead. He has this "expert" brass repair guy that told him that is common with Blessings. It has something to do with how the outer rim of the bell is done, it not being soldered or something like that.

I am wondering if there is any truth to this. I have a bell from a intermediate level Eastman that is the same size. Is there any chance that swapping the bell on the Blessing will improve the sound? Thanks all for your time.

[atopper333]

I’ve played three B88 horns and a B78. The B78 from the 80s or 90s and an Artist B88 from the early 70s were really nice horns. One of the other B88s was passible and the third was crap. Both of those were “Blessing USA” horns from the 90s.

Dead sound on the crap horn, yes. But even the Blessing Elkhart Artist B88 felt like it lacked the complexity of sound as my 88H had. I did find the bell section of the Blessing to feel heavier than an Abilene Conn 88H. A bell swap to an 88H bell should be pretty easy as the horns share what appears pretty similar dimensions. Don’t know about the Edwards bells or how they play or how compatible they are, but I’m sure someone will have some insight.

The only other difference I noticed between an 88H and a B88 was the tuning slide…swapping slides between the Conn and Blessing, to me, had little effect on the sound.

[erickson8418]

Thank You for the thoughtful reply