Bach Stradivarius C180SL184GH Heavy C Trumpet--Vented Valves, Customized!
One of several professional C trumpets we are offering for sale. This is a Bach Stradivarius model C180SL238GH. S/n 416XXX makes this a mid-90's horn. It is a silver-plated, large-bore trumpet in the key of C with a super hard-to-find bell: the 238GH—Bach's largest C bell (usually found on the Vindabona models) in a heavyweight gold brass, giving you a huge, dark, Teutonic sound that won’t frazzle out at high volumes.
This horn has been highly customized by its prior owner, who had some excellent shop remove the first and third valve triggers, install a first valve thumb hook and third valve stop screw, lighten the first and third slide resistance to a feather weight, and even vented the first and third pistons to further decrease resistance and eliminate the “pop” from the slide motion. I actually tightened up the valves a smidge with a thicker Monster slide grease because I was throwing the first slide back too far and had it come off the horn once, but if you like them super responsive, you can just wipe that off and put a standard grease back on it. Note also that the loose slides were done purposefully and not at all due to wear: the compression on this horn measures a flat zero on the leak detector and the slides bounce back and forth freely when the pistons are not compressed. He also had Amado water keys installed to decrease resistance and open the horn up even further.
Silver plating is about 99% with a little if any wear mostly on the mouthpiece receiver, no signs of repair or major dent work, and perhaps just the smallest, hard-to-find imperfections if you really go looking for them. Valves are fast and smooth and quiet with almost no wear at all. Oiled with Hetman synthetic valve oil, so please use the same or clean the pistons and casings if you prefer a petroleum-based product. Best of all, it is just through the shop in September, 2026 where it was disassembled, chem cleaned, detergent cleaned, lubed, and hand polished. We did not replace the piston felts on this, because the alignment is excellent, and I suspect that if someone put hundreds of dollars into making this horn so responsive, he probably also had a precision alignment done which I didn’t want to mess up.
Valve oil and cork grease are for local pickup only and will not be shipped, but it does include a new ProTec microfiber cloth, new ProTec leather finger protector, and an exceptional WolfPak double case with shoulder strap, backpack straps, and zippered external pocket large enough for lots of music. (If you already have a case, we can sell this without for $150 less.)
An exceptional, super rare C trumpet in amazing condition that you will never find elsewhere. A boring, stock 239 is currently $4,199 at the “discount” M&A, so snatch this one up, save about $2,000, and get an absolute professional, custom axe that will give you bragging rights over the entire section.
