Bruce’s Horns

Eclipse Celeste Trumpet

Lightweight yellow brass bell 460 bore.

 

The day I went to Leigh's workshop, I wasn’t even looking for a new trumpet. I was with a friend who was getting some work done, and wasn’t in the market for a new horn. I’d been endorsing another make for over twenty five years. and was fairly content with what I had.

One thing led to another, and I blew a few horns. The first thing that hit me was the speed of response. I realised immediately that being fairly content with my horn wasn’t really good enough.

 

I probably tried a dozen different configurations that day. I wouldn’t have dismissed any out of hand. It was a really tough choice. Leigh offered to make a trumpet specially for me, but the horns I tried were so good, that I didn’t feel that any changes I could suggest would improve anything. Consequently my instrument is something that anyone can get off the shelf. Leigh did enlarge the hook for my right hand pinky to accommodate my big hands. 

 

My experience with Eclipse is of dealing with the people who design and make the instruments, not  someone with a sales pitch.

 

Eclipse Flugelhorn 

Gold brass bell.

 

Leigh developed his Flugel in conjunction with Henry Lowther, a highly respected British trumpet player. Henry asked Eclipse to build a Flugel based on the old French Couesnon. The result is an instrument that has all the good qualities of the Couesnon but none of the vices. 

It is a delight to play with the same silky valve action as the trumpets and beautiful intonation. The two triggers are beautifully engineered so you don’t have to unscrew everything to remove slide for cleaning. And the water keys fall to hand beautifully.

 

 

Eclipse Long Model Cornet

Gold brass bell Bore 470

 

Because I sometimes perform at concerts and festivals where I’m required to play Classic/Traditional Jazz, I’ve always wanted a Long Model Cornet.

In Britain this can be difficult as the Brass Band and Military norm is the short model, or shepherd’s crook. This means very often settling for an old horn that has seen better days. When Leigh handed me this cornet I was completely knocked out. My aim is for a classic Chicago sound, so my preference is for standard weight caps on the valve bottoms. Legit players may prefer the heavy caps on the valve bottoms. They do make quite a difference.The choice is yours.