In praise of Shires Q Bass

[posaunebone]

So I've had the yellow brass bell Shires Q series bass for around 2 months now. It was purchased in anticipation of doubling for a show and I was getting real tired of the school's 112H! Always wanted my own anyway...

When deciding what to purchase, I had also played the Getzen 1052, which I had decided years ago if I ever needed doubler that that would be the one, but the Q series definitely takes it up a notch and gives the option to to "whole hog" so to speak if I get serious enough with bass trombone to decide to switch to trubores or try different tuning slides etc. Side by side they simply didn't compare. Although the manufacturing process is different the pedigree is very apparent.

My thoughts...

Fully interchangeable with Shires custom series stuff if I ever feel the need to modify the instrument. Not the Getzen custom series approach of same parts/different fit. These are Massachusetts fabricated, China assembled, Massachusetts finished from my understanding and all the same fittings/dimensions as Shires custom series parts.

Plays well with others. I've blended under Kings in a big band, Bachs in a wind ensemble, and with a 6H, French horn, and trumpets in the pit I'm currently in. The sound is easy to manipulate. The bell seems to be the equivalent of a 1Y in the Bach taper dubbed the QBY QII taper.

No immediately noticably "this was put together in China" side effects - had my tech look at it day 2 (soldering is clean, solid manufacturing, excellent slide, alignment good on tuning slides, no corrosion from the factory, compression is excellent, tolerances excellent, etc). Slide next to custom slide feels identical, tuning slide feels identical, bells feel identical, valve section may be where some things are "optimized" or slightly redesigned on the Chinese side of this instrument.

Valve section is surprisingly open for rotors. Not as open as the Olsen on my 42, maybe not as open as standard Shires rotors I'd played before. There may be some differences here in custom series vs q series, but I'd have to swap out to be positive as it's been a while since I played Shires rotors. Valve caps are noticably lightweight like some Chinese instruments, but threads are good, not like other from China instruments. Maybe these are Eastman rotors as opposed to Shires? Not sure. Low C and B are real work, but that is probably more me than the rotors.

The included leadpipes might also be different than the standard Shires leadpipes. I started off with the 1 (they're stamped 1 2 3 instead of B1 B2 B3) for a bit and used the included Shires 1 1/2 MD. Moved to a Hammond 20BL and tried a friend's MK George Roberts nickel pipe and immediately found that it was a great match and brought more clarity and control over the sound / Dynamics than stock. Ordered my own immediately. I've stuck with that setup since.

The included case is decent, definitely not the world's greatest, but I'd compare it to a cheaper version of the protec ipac. A full set of Hetman products is also included with it, a nice touch. If I was carrying this case every day, I'd want to swap it out for something lighter and more durable. As a non daily driver the case is just fine and has comfortable backpack straps and a sizeable outer pouch.

I think that they have finally found that sweet spot between made in China and made in USA that many manufactures struggle to find. These are night and day from the "Eastman by Shires" instruments out there!

Definitely the perfect doublers horn or a solid first step for a serious player who doesn't want to jump straight to 6-7k for full custom Shires.

[harrisonreed]

Modular parts made in MA, shipped to China for assembly (again....modular parts...) and then shipped back to MA for finishing surely can't be the way they are making the Q series. There's gotta be more to it than that.

I'm just picturing a barge arriving in Shandong and the workers (wearing nice cotten white gloves) opening up boxes, screwing bells onto valve sections and greasing tuning slides into place, placing them into proper cases, and then putting them back on the barge before it's even unloaded. Hahahaha.

[posaunebone]

From Shires

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seshir ... format=amp

How do we do it? It's international commerce at its finest. S.E. Shires fabricates the Q parts in Hopedale, Massachusetts, USA, then ships the parts to the Eastman factory in China where they are assembled, and then the instrument is sent back to Shires. The final finishes, quality checks and play-tests are then done in Hopedale before shipping to dealers. And that's how you get a custom quality trombone/trumpet at a moderate price!

...

I took that as they make every part that goes into the said component (so if a bell they send the flare, receiver, flanges all raw and unassembled/unfinished, slide they send all tubes/braces/cork barrels, etc) and then the raw parts are actually soldered together and assembled in China, then final cleanup, adjustments, etc are completed back in MA.

Definitely not the typical made in China but stamped Shires on it to make it appear like something it's not. Im sure there are compromises somewhere on the instrument as I noted above, but definitely not anything like an Eastman by Shires, jinbao variant, etc. It just doesn't feel anything like those cheaper instruments do.

[Burgerbob]

Yup, it's not the modular bits, it's the bits that make up the modular bits. So you get the quality of real Shires bits and QC, with someone else putting it all together.