daCarbo Medium-Large Bore Jazz Trombone

The first manifestation of the daCarbo concept was in the Musik Spiri Vario trumpet, and this technology was carefully and successfully transported over to trombone production. This is the medium large-bore version (.526") of the daCarbo trombone. As with daCarbo trumpets, this trombone is incredibly easy to play while producing the highest quality sound. It allows excellent articulation and flexibility, and musical ideas tend to flow without hindrance or distraction due the horn’s effortless play.

The carbon fiber outer slide can never bend or dent, and is much straighter than a brass slide trombone. As a result, the gap between the outer and inner slide can be held to a minimum, allowing only enough space for lubricant. This new technology enhances the sound, speed, and quality of the instrument. Furthermore, the new carbon fiber outer slide is extremely light, giving you maximum comfort as well as precise sound quality and reliable performance.

The daCarbo Difference

It’s not just the materials, but the materials are a big part of what makes daCarbo horns special. Okay, buckle your seatbelts for a little bit of science, but take heart, we’ll get to the art a bit later.

Carbon fibers are composed almost entirely of elemental carbon. The carbon atoms are arranged in micro-crystals, aligned longitudinally with the fiber’s axis. This alignment makes the fibers more rigid than steel, despite being only a quarter to one-fifth the density.

In order to take advantage of these properties, the fibers must be contained in some kind of frame, which in this case is a polymer matrix that sets the fibers into place. A carbon component is not just light because the material itself has an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, but also because the fibers can be aligned so as to take account of precisely where the stress factors accumulate. This means that designers of carbon fiber products can use the minimum amount of material for the purpose.

daCarbo uses this freedom offered by fiber alignment and rigid design possibilities in building their instruments not to cut down on weight, but primarily to optimize the instrument’s vibration. The team at daCarbo has developed an injection technology to manufacture complex tube shapes from these carbon materials. Using this technology, daCarbo produces trumpet components characterized by perfect surface quality inside the tubes and out.

The process guarantees a durable, uncompromising finish, much more exact than could be achieved using traditional instrument-makers’ techniques. The process of studying the response of brass bells and leadpipes, precise examination of air flow and where exactly on the instrument most of the energy is transferred is a marriage of the art and science of instrument making. Each daCarbo instrument is built with painstakingly precise, hand-crafted detail by daCarbo’s makers with all of the love, care and passion that music inspires.

So What?
To what end all of this materials science and precise examination of the physics of airflow? By making wind instruments from carbon fiber compounds, daCarbo is able to suppress vibrations in the tube that waste energy. They stiffen the bore walls in selected spots and in certain directions (and sometimes even make them softer) according to the unwavering consistency of the way air moves through tubes.

The result is an enormous gain in freedom compared to traditional materials. A brilliant team of musicians, instrument-makers, engineers and acoustic designers have worked together to develop a trumpet that is remarkably easy to play, produces appreciably less embouchure fatigue, and yet produces a warm and rounded tone.

Some of the great things that daCarbo does are rooted in the things that daCarbo doesn’t do. Like dent. The daCarbo doesn’t. Strike the music stand with your handslide? Accidentally clink bells on a cramped bandstand? No problem. The daCarbo bells, slides and pipes cannot and will not dent.

Another thing daCarbo cannot and will not do is corrode. Carbon fiber is simply incapable of hosting the elements that cause the insides of brass tubes to corrode, so the carbon components of daCarbo instruments are completely corrosion-free. This means that the inner surfaces of your tube and bore always retain the same high quality without the pitting corrosion that is typical for brass instruments.

Warm Sound, Warm Feel
The carbon material feels warm to the touch because, unlike brass, it has very low heat conductivity and does not absorb heat from your hands. The air column in the instrument likewise remains almost at breath temperature regardless of the ambient temperature and regardless of the instrument’s temperature. This reduces the need to re-tune after you have been playing for a while, and also reduces condensation build-up inside the instrument. If you are frustrated with how quickly your instrument requires you to use your water key, this is another area of advantage for daCarbo.