Recently our orchestra took delivery of three Martin Schmidt Heckel model C trumpets. We received them on a Friday morning after rehearsal. Although it’s a cliché, we liked them so much we played them in the concert that evening with no rehearsal to great success. The craftsmanship of these instruments is better than anything I’ve ever seen. They truly are works of art down to the most minute detail. Every mechanism works efortlessly and comfortably, the soldering and alignment of slides is perfect and the engraving is gorgeous. The first thing we noticed playing them is the incredible response and wonderful smooth sound. The scale is even and the pitch is excellent in all registers. Of particular interest to me is how easy it is to adjust the pitch while playing. The tuning mechanisms work wonderfully but they almost don’t seem necessary. One can blend with any instrument in the orchestra with these trumpets. The soft passages in Schumann and Weber are no trouble now. The louder parts of Wagner and Bruckner also project with a blanced and comfortable sound. Our colleagues have commented on how nice it is blend with these instruments. Though the instrument sang well with the American mouthpiece I use on my piston valve instruments it opened up greatly with a traditional German type mouthpiece. We are looking forward to a long relationship with these wonderful instruments. Thank you so much Martin and Lukas. Rob Myers Principal Trumpet, Yucatán Symphony Orchestra Pictured left to right are Alonso Armenta, Edith Margaret Gruber and Rob Myers