I pick up student horns to donate to a charity to provide inner city kids with instruments, and just got what I thought was a smokin' deal ($60) on an almost-new Bach student horn. It says Bach on the case and on the bell, but has no model number I can find and is stamped "China". I checked on line and Google says they are made by contracted factories in China under Bach supervision. I have run across a lot of off brand Chinese made junk and avoid them like the plague, but are these major brand horns decent? I'm an old guy from where all name brand brass from American brands was made here.

I'm looking for advice. Should I stick with just older American made trombones and trumpets, or are name brand offshore horns OK?

I’d say how is the horn? If the slide is good and there are no funky intonation issues…it’d be a great horn for a student!

I mainly see ‘etude’ or other similar quality horns being used by students in my area…I guess I would like to think it’s gotta be better quality then those!

I think the first question to ask is whether there's any association at all between that horn and Conn-Selmer. I seem to recall a run of "Bach" instruments popping up a while back that had no connection to Conn-Selmer.

Of course, not being associated with Conn-Selmer doesn't necessarily mean it's total junk. The proof is in the playing.

You might also look as some of the details in the fit and finish. One thing that's a red flag for me is when the outer slide tubes are just bare tube ends (rather than having a reinforcing ring solder in place); that's gonna take a bit out of someone's hand someday. Another red flag is brace flanges with gaps (i.e., they didn't use enough solder to fully fill the joint). If it was me looking at the horn, I'd give the inner tubes a good cleaning so I can check the finish on the ID. A little pitting is to be expected on a horn with some miles on it, but longitudinal scratches speak to either poor cleaning methods or a problem with the drawing process.

The problem is that, unless you're buying locally, you can't tell how a horn plays, nor can you get a feel for the build quality. I'd say stick with the established brands (not just American) if you're buying online.

One of the biggest issues with a lot of the imports from China is that repair shops won't work on them. For a horn that's going to be used by a beginner, that can be a problem.

I should have noted that I had a Bach trumpet, not a trombone. The case sticker I just found says it is a TR500. It is $1,200 new! Glowing reviews by the vendors, mediocre reviews by real people. Still, a steal at the price. I just picked up a trumpet care kit for $8 to go with it. Some kid is gonna be lucky!

There are currently no American made student line instruments. The first gen of the Bach and King student horns were rough. Terrible valves and slides. The BTB301, BTR301, KTB301, etc. The 302s are starting this year. Haven’t had a chance to really look at them.

[quote="ZacharyThornton"]There are currently no American made student line instruments.[/quote]

Getzen's are made in the USA. At least around here (Wisconsin, unsurprisingly) 351's show up pretty regularly on facebook marketplace.

[quote="dwcarder"]<QUOTE author="ZacharyThornton" post_id="280152" time="1751478163" user_id="109">
There are currently no American made student line instruments.[/quote]

Getzen's are made in the USA. At least around here (Wisconsin, unsurprisingly) 351's show up pretty regularly on facebook marketplace.
</QUOTE>

https://www.getzen.com/trombones/300-400-series/

I worked for Getzen… they do not make the 351 or 451 anymore because it costs too much to fit into a rental pool. They stopped making them in 2018 except for special request.