F. Besson Brevete ca. 1945

The F. Besson Company was the pioneer of the modern trumpet. Their original trumpet designs from the 1880's became the template for nearly every other maker in the 20th century. Many famous American trumpet makers like Vincent Bach, Elden Benge, Reynold Schilke, and Domenick Calicchio took inspiration or directly copied the French Besson trumpet. F. Besson trumpets were preferred by symphonic, studio, and jazz musicians alike, and still hold up as excellent instruments with an unmistakeable sound.

This trumpet is in excellent condition for its age. The lacquer is original and has aged to a beautiful dark color. The valves look to have been replated and have good compression for a horn of this age, but are not as tight as a trumpet with a modern valve rebuild. There some minor signs of repair, with lacquer loss around the bell bow. The bore size is .459", making this a medium-large bore instrument. 

This trumpet is a fantastic player, and has an incredibly rich and powerful sound. It's easy to see why these instruments were copied by so many makers in the 20th century!

This trumpet is likely post-WWII due to the construction of the valve block, but appears to be all French parts, meaning it was likely built between 1945-1950. It does have the underslung 3rd slide, which is a common feature on prewar models. This trumpet has received a valve alignment at Beverly Music.