Here's my story...

Many years ago I played baritone in a drum and bugle corps. I still have my horn. It is a 2 valve DEG in the key of G. It's not really good for anything anymore. My 8 yr old son is about to start trombone lessons, so I started looking around for a Bb instrument with valves so I can play along with him. I want a bell-front instrument, not a polka band baritone.

Now, it gets confusing. It appears that a "marching trombone", "marching baritone" and flugabone are different instruments with different bore sizes and bell flares. A lot of the vendors selling them on eBay use the terms interchangeably. If we add in the valve trombones and bass trumpets I'm even more lost.

It may be a lot to ask, but can anybody explain the difference in playability, tone and construction of these instruments? I would appreciate any guidance you have to offer.

BTW. This looks like a great web site. I found it looking for something else.

Marching baritones do get very confusing. Aside from the differences between marching baritones, marching euphoniums, and marching trombones, you also have widely different sounding horns from different manufacturers.

Personally, I would stay away from marching trombones, they are so tightly wound they just don't put out a good sound. And marching euphs, while they sound wonderful, can get pretty huge. But, they sound nice, especially the large bore versions.

Kanstul makes some pretty good marching horns, but my favorites are King and Yamaha. Problem is, it's pretty hard to find these to "try before you buy" like we always talk about.

Then again, if you're just looking for something to fart around on at home, you probably don't need to be as picky as if you were looking for 10 or 15 matching horns for a section...

Oh another thing you might try... Find your local drum corps and see if they have any old horns they are selling. The have a high turnover rate in the instruments, and they replace horns that still work just fine for personal or high school use. And they sell them at a pretty good price sometimes as well.

And they are Bb horns now-a-days, just like concert baritones, euphs and trombone. No more key of G brain explosions.