3 years after I bought my R2 trumpet, it was time to visit Hub van Laar’s shop again. My trumpets needed to be cleaned and some dents removed. It was also a nice excuse to play test his latest trumpet models, the B8 and B9 and some new Oiram models. He had most models laying on a table so I could play them for a couple of hours during my stay.
Hub told me the new B8 has a Sterling Silver bell and you can get it with 3 different shape bells, with medium or normal weight body and round or D shape tuning slide, I like the D shape better. It has a reversed leadpipe btw. It played very solid and every note clicked right in their slot. I liked it a lot after I got used to it’s playing feel. The B9 has a newly designed valve block, I only played a couple of notes on it so I can’t give any insight on this horn.
My favorite horn of the day was a B7 which wasn’t finished yet. I already played this model because one of my Miller colleagues has one, but Hub made some changes to this model so it didn’t feel to big for me anymore but still very open with a big sound. I had a hard time laying it down!
After some hours Hub finished one of my horns and I will visit him again in a week to collect my other trumpet when Markus Stockhausen is giving a clinic in his shop (02/22). Oh, they are also working hard on a new website, which looked great! As always, it was great fun to visit his shop and I’m looking forward to my next visit…
