My Horns No. 2 - Yamaha YTR-732

The second trumpet in my "stable" that I'd like to mention is the "little brother" to the Yamaha YTR-634, which I wrote about here.

Another of the 70s Yamaha professional horns designed by Schilke, the YTR-732 differs in a few areas from the YTR-634. Firstly, silver plate - denoted by the "7" of 732 - the lacquered horns all had numbers beginning with 6.

Bell material is Yellow Brass, with a bore size of .445", 5" bell.

The particular example that I own has the letter "A" after the serial number, designating it as a horn built in the USA. Stories say that the American assembled horns of this era were actually built in the Schilke factory itself - certainly if you look at my YTR-732 it is almost an exact copy of a Schilke, so much so that it has fooled several people at first look. The details of this horn are quite different to the YTR-634, something that I have documented on the TrumpetHerald forum.

I have only owned this horn since the middle of this year, and I can't say too much about it's history, apart from the fact that it hasn't been heavily played - it's in very good condition, with only minor dings and wear marks. It has had one of the leadpipe braces re-soldered at some stage in it's life. The silver plate has worn in places, particularly in the valve casings, where fingers and thumbs rest.

This horn is a dream to play. It certainly doesn't need much air, it's easy to overblow and when you do the horn does get stuffy. If you back off though, you get a nice compact sound, which can be very honey-like if played lyrically, to a nice bright commercial sound if that's what's needed. It has lightning fast reaction to input, and is very quick to accept changes. Coming from mostly playing medium large bore horns, I find if I'm not careful it's easy to overpitch notes, especially with intervallic jumps.

The horn is compact in the hand as well, with a tighter wrap than my YTR-634.

I've already used the YTR-732 for a season in the pit playing for a local musical theatre production. It's perfect for that sort of job, where two shows a day mean conserving your air, and the wide array of styles of playing call for a horn that's adaptable. I think it will get a lot more work in the future.

The YTR-732 has been developed over the years, and it's progeny went on to become the famous "Bobby Shew" line of horns that Yamaha now sell. It's almost as good as them, for about a third of the cost - if you get the chance, give one a try. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more about this horn.

Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell