Sop Trouble

[Hobbsy]

Hi I've played the Soprano Cornet for nearly 2 years (Been playing for 4 years) now and have always been pushed in terms of range and ability. Now the time has come for me to purchase my own.
I have been playing a Besson Sovereign with its mouth piece extension thingies. Now I don't know what to buy, I've heard that besson aren't as good as they used to be. Yamaha are said to be the king of the Eb instruments.
I want your help. Keep it to a decent budget, I'm not made of Money!

[David Sheedy]

I would recomend the Courtois !

I got one just over a year ago. I have played most types including the schilke, Yamaha and the besson and to be honest the courtois is the best of the bunch in my opinion

David

[traosb]

Don't know about king of Eb instruments, and certainly can't speak for sops, but I tried a yamaha horn once and would certainly never go down that route unless I was forced to by every courtois and sovereign (in that order - big courtois fan even though I have to use a sovereign for band) on the planet being destroyed. It lasted less than a week before I refused to play it anymore. It was uncomfortable to hold after a sovereign - maybe that would have grown on me, though I did try and it didn't seem to improve at all - and I had horrendous problems with tuning, with the band but also even individually.

It might have been that that instrument was a one-off (I hope so) and that other people can swear that it's the best type of horn they've ever played. However I found that attempting to tune it, let alone to the band, was impossible, and was relieved to say the least when I was able to see the back of it. Just a thought and based entirely on my experience with the horn, but if the tuning on the sop is anything like the horn, don't go there!!