Harrelson 907 Trumpet Review

    Well, here it is. A 2005 Harrelson 907, designed and built by Jason Harrelson right here in the USA. I saw this horn on Ebay about two months ago and couldn't resist. The Ebay gods must have smiled upon me that day, because I bought a 4000 dollar horn for 900usd. These horns are rare, but definitely worth snapping up. There are many who may read this and not know who Jason Harrelson is. Jason is one of the great young talents in the instrument design world. He is a physicist by training, and a passionate musician as well. Each of his horns seems to reflect his fastidious research and design principals. This horn is one of Jason's early horns. It is based on the valve set and bell from a Getzen Eterna Severinsen. An excellent instrument to begin with....The Harrelson modification involves removing the stock braces, leadpipe, third valve and first valve slides, and tuning slide. First, a heavy sleeve is soldered over the stock leadpipe. The same is done for the leader into the third valve. A custom tuning slide was also made for this horn (it was an option). The slide on this horn retains the stock look, but features a much more aggressive taper. Sheet bracing was added in places deemed appropriate by Jason's testing, and the whole horn was reassembled. The result is a Getzen on steroids. A super horn of sorts. Harrelson call their building principals SWE (standing wave efficiency) technology. The idea behind each notification is to reduce the amount of energy lost within the air column before exiting the bell. This is done by reducing the resonance and vibrations at various points throughout the horn.

    This thing is a monster. Just an amazing instrument and a testament to what the advancement in technology can do for an art form. There have been many who are skeptical and scoff at builders like Harrelson for bringing instrument design into the 21st century. I have played a Getzen Severinsen and the Harrelson Horn back to back. The result was an eye opening experience. Basically, The Harrelson horn plays bigger, warmer, louder, has greater presence, and seems to play more in tune to my ear. I would describe the feeling like a wall of sound. The harder i push, the taller and thicker the wall gets. Definitely not a bright, cutting sound like a lead horn (ala schilke B1), but a huge, concert hall filling tone none the less. I intend to use this horn as my main solo axe. As a solo instrument, I doubt I will be able to find anything of higher quality. The valves are typical Getzen fare. Lightning fast, quiet and trouble free. The biggest surprise with this horn is the intonation. I play on a Marcinkiewicz 2.1 (think Bach 3C ish) mouthpiece, and have never had to pull the tuning slide more then 1/8th of an inch. Low D's and C#'s are surprisingly in tune and do not require much throw of the third valve slide.

    My biggest complaint with the horn is weight. At 3lb, 10oz, this is a very heavy horn. Not the heaviest i have ever held ( that title goes to the Taylor Chicago Custom), but not an easy horn to hold for long periods of time. I used this horn on a Jazz gig, and although i loved my sound on it, I found that my left arm was sore by the end of two sets. My second complaint is with the fit and finish. Being that this is a raw brass horn it is obviously much harder to hide solder seams. Most of the solder seams are visible on this horn. Some people may call it shoddy workmanship. Although I'm not thrilled with it, I believe they add to the tank like appearance of this horn. These are fairly minor quibbles against such a great horn. I'll go out on a limb and say that if anyone reading this should come across a Harrelson 907, 908, or 909 for a decent price they would be crazy to pass it up.