The Bach model 42 is one of the most prominent and ubiquitous orchestral tenor trombones of this century. Designed in the 1950s, it was a combination of parts from other models already in production by Bach. I've heard stories and myths that Mr Bach disliked the model 42 as he thought the perfect orchestral tenor instrument was his model 36. The Conn 88H had gained popularity among the orchestral professionals that Mr. Bach had no choice but to compete. His original 42's use the same tapered bell as the 36 but spun to 8.5", a .547" slide with his bass trombone, model 50 crook.

This trombone is dear to my heart. The majority of it was Byron Peeble's Mt Vernon 42. I combined his setup with an extra Mt Vernon 42B bell I have in yellow brass to make this combination. The valve "guts" were made by famous brass technician George Strucel in the late 1960s. It was constructed from scratch around a Bernard Marston rotary valve (same maker as Bach Mt Vernon valves) with an open wrap design by Mr. Strucel. The F attachment is all bent by hand, including the F tuning slide. In addition to being one of the first open wrap horns, it's also one of the first modular trombones. It has a straight neckpipe that was made from the original straight Mt Vernon 42. Byron was a fan of the narrow slide width of Conn 88Hs. He had George Strucel custom fabricate a hand bent nickel silver slide crook with the narrow width and rebuild the slide to this size. I have the original crook in my possession, but it plays amazingly well as is and I doubt I'll ever change it back. The original bell flare is a yellow brass Mt Vernon 42 bell that was thinned with a special technique developed by Strucel. It was then silver plated to protect the brass.

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