New Option for a Double Tenor (or Tenor & Alto) Case

[chasanov]

I just wanted to let everyone know about a great double case being sold by Clive Reeves in the UK.
I own a MB Double case and have never been happy about the "over/under" stacking of the bells.
The Reeves case has a side-by-side design that is fantastic. Easy to access either instrument. I use it as an alto/tenor double case, but easily fits 2 tenors.

The price is also excellent: £354.17 (ex. VAT), which converts to $454.58 (as of 11/23/19)
Link: https://reevesbrass.com/reeves-brass-pr ... -997-p.asp

[bcschipper]

Very nice design. What is the maximal length of the slide compartment？Would it fit a 89 cm / 35 inch slide？

[chasanov]

You best ask Mr. Reeves via his website.

[whitbey]

I like this.

[bcschipper]

You best ask Mr. Reeves via his website.

I asked but no answer.

[harrisonreed]

I just ordered one. I'll post about it when it arrives. Our band is now having concerts that are almost a 50/50 split of big band and wind ensemble pieces. Seems like it will be that way for the foreseeable future, so this will make my life a lot easier.

[bassclef]

I just ordered one. I'll post about it when it arrives.

Please do!

I am quite interested in the new bass/tenor version and have been staring at the photos for a while. The only thing holding me back is that it looks like there's nothing rigid to protect the slide at the "bottom" of the case (when it's closed and being carried by the handles) from receiving pressure from the weight of the two bell sections and slide above it.

[harrisonreed]

I am still wondering about that and if the outer case will flex against the slides while being carried. And only because it looks like the Alessi case. It just left SF on a plane.

All of my concerts recently seem to be a 50/50 big band and wind ensemble split, and I'm traveling a lot with other gear. I need a solution and I'm hoping this is it!

[TromboneConcerto]

I'm curious of the measurements. It looks quite large, especially if it can fit 2 tenors with triggers.

[harrisonreed]

Should arrive this week.

[harrisonreed]

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[Neo Bri]

Looks pretty slick. I'm waiting to hear more about it.

[harrisonreed]

So here are my first impressions of this case that arrived this week.

My first thought was, dear lord, my horns aren't going to fit into this case, and it's not going to close. That turns out to not be the "case"....

It's definitely a Chinese made case that feels to be exactly the same construction as the older T-396A case. That case also places the slide along the outer edge of the case and when I first saw my T396, I was worried that any bump would destroy the slide. Hasn't happened in three years. Since this case seems to be exactly the same, I doubt the slides will go wonky unless they get hit with a seriously hard blow. So, it's obviously not the super solid construction you see in the $1000 cases, but it is definitely more protective than a gig bag. It's constructed exactly like the cases that Edwards thought was good enough for their $5000 trombone.

It took some fiddling on the inside to get the bell sections to sit the way I wanted them to. I was a bit worried at first putting the Edwards bell section in, as the lever arm is that is parallel to the edge of the bell (the part that is attached to the saddle that hinges) is quite long on Edwards. Even the Rotax one is as about as long as one on an axial valve. This means that there is a slight amount of pressure from the foam holding the instrument in place on the wooden trigger piece and on the spindle screw coming out of the rotor. I'd say only a pound or two of pressure, and since the bell doesn't really move around even if you move the foam away from the trigger, I don't think it's an issue. I can try it with another full large bore with an axial when I'm done with this tour, just to see if both long levers would fit. Absolutely fits a T396 and King 3BF, and you can have both slides facing DOWN in the same direction so they don't leak if you stand it on its end. Definitely would fit an alto. A bass ain't gonna fit.

Nothing moves around once you've got the case loaded up. Zipping the lid closed increases the rigidity of the outer walls a well.

It came with backpack straps which I probably won't use. I put the ones from my Edwards case on it instead.

It came with a seriously small mouthpiece case that is also based on the design for the Edwards one, but it's too small. I just am using a mouthpiece case I already had. Mouthpieces go in the outer pocket, and though there is room in the case to stuff stuff in between the foam sections, I'm not going to do that. Outer pocket holds a lot of stuff.

I'm putting it through the paces on this tour, so we'll see how everything holds up. So far so good. Love not carrying two full cases. I'll post more later if people are interested.

[harrisonreed]

As for weight being put on the "bottom" slide in this design -- the foam dividers are Velcroed in to the wall behind the two bell discs. I've made all of mine tight enough so that they hug around each bell and prevent any lateral movement inside the case. Since nothing is shifting, all the weight is held by tension in the dividers and the Velcro attachments, instead of shifting the weight against the slides. It's a good design. Could the outer case have been made to be as rigid as, say, a Conn coffin case? Probably, and that'd be an improvement. Is the case exactly as rigid as the Edwards Alessi case? Yes, and since that was the thing that worried me the most about that case as well, I'm not concerned about it -- I had absolutely zero damage to anything stored in the "not quite solid enough" Alessi case, which also put the slide along the entire length of the bottom, hinged wall of the case.

As for maximum slide length, if you look at the pictures you can see that a 3B slide is nearly the entire length of the slide compartment. You might be able to squeeze an extra inch of slide length into it, but that'd be pushing it. I don't know how long a 3B slide is, and don't have a tape measure with me.

[Neo Bri]

Thank you for this writeup! Keep us posted. I'm very interested in this case.

[bassclef]

Thank you for this writeup! Keep us posted. I'm very interested in this case.

Agreed, thanks for taking the time to pass along this info!

[whitbey]

I am thinking about this case for myself.

Where do the MP's go?

Is there padding under the bell throat?

Could you put the bell in upside down/valve up?

I really appreciate your pics and post.

[harrisonreed]

I am thinking about this case for myself.

Where do the MP's go?

Is there padding under the bell throat?

Could you put the bell in upside down/valve up?

I really appreciate your pics and post.

MPs go into your preferred MP case, and then into the outer pocket. I wouldn't put them into the case with the horns, even though it looks like they might fit somewhere.

Yes, there are pads you can put under the bell throat. There's also smaller square pads that I put under the tuning slide/neckpipe since you have to put the bells in valve down.

I wouldn't put the bell in valve up. The bottom of the case is completely padded but flat, and the two bell arches are on the lid. Valve up means that you have to put a ton of padding under the bell throat and tuning slide to keep the bell flush with the padded disc. Getting it flush moves the valve and trigger further up and prevents the lid from closing.

I will say again, though, to be fully aware that when you order this case and it arrives, you're going to have an initial reaction that goes something like "wow, my horns are not going to fit and something is going to break if I look at this case the wrong way." If it helps, my reaction to the cronkhite double case was "this is janky as hell" and my horns did get beat up in that bag. Just be ready for that reaction, and then remember that you can move stuff around a bit inside the case to get it to fit better. Horns do in fact fit quite nice and snug inside, and since nothing moves around I don't think anything short of a very aggressive hit will damage the slides. I'm definitely not going to test that out.

[TromboneConcerto]

You think it would fit well in an overhead? What does it measure?

[harrisonreed]

You think it would fit well in an overhead? What does it measure?

I don't have a tape measure here with me in the hotel, but I would personally not bring this case as a carry on. I think it would fit in the larger overhead bins, but I would not want to do that to the other poor people who are in my row with me -- they also have baggage that they are entitled to put up there, and technically trombone cases exceed at least one of the allowable dimensions for carryon for every airline I've ever heard of. Being a musician doesn't entitle me to take their space. The other issue is that I don't trust gate checking horns, so in the event I were to get called on trying to take up an entire overhead bin for my one case, I'd probably just abandon my flight. When I fly, my horns get checked in a heavily memory foam padded Tank case and checked so that there is no chance of having to gate check a gig bag or other non bomb proof case.

[harrisonreed]

So, I have now been using this case for 6 months. Slides are as fast as ever, and no dings anywhere to be seen. You can put both slides with the water keys facing the same direction, so no worries about water getting everywhere. I use it primarily for my T396 and my 3BF. But it fits a 36H alto no problem.

In the end, my only gripe is that when I got the case, Reeves Brass had not unboxed or checked the case from when they had initially had it in their inventory, so it still had that industrial manufacturing smell in it (fixed with cleaning and an air freshener for a few nights), and it also had some mildew that I needed to clean out. So...not the greatest initial experience. Like, at all.

HOWEVER! I don't believe there is another (sort of) hard case on the market that does what the Cronkhite double case does, while offering a much better level of protection like this case does. Once I got it cleaned up and set up, I honestly can't imagine NOT having this case going forward.

It would be good if the company producing these upped their game in just a few areas:

1. Increase the width of the case by one inch, so the bells could be more parallel. This could allow room for mouthpieces to be stored inside the case as well.

2. Increase the depth of the case by one inch. This would allow for large tenor bell sections to sit more evenly on the bottom of the case, and additional padding could be used.

3. Ship the cases in a slightly less "just out of the factory" state.

4. Ditch the stupid mouthpiece case that is included. It would barely fit trumpet mouthpieces.

5. Use more overbuilt hardware for the straps. They get the job done, but the ones on the Alessi case, which looks to be made in the same place, are much better.

[Briande]

Looks like they have something similar with wheels now too.
https://reevesbrass.com/reeves-brass-ba ... 1081-p.asp

[Mv2541]

Looks like they have something similar with wheels now too.
https://reevesbrass.com/reeves-brass-ba ... 1081-p.asp

I was looking at that and I wonder why it's so much more expensive than the double tenor one? It also looks much more cheaply made. The wheels are cool, but it doesn't appear to be a quality product like a Cronkhite or Bonna.

[Danitrb]

HI ! Does anyone know if these cases are still being made?

[harrisonreed]

Maybe in China the factory still has the stencils and plans, but you'd have to try and set up a contract or order to get them made for you. I think Reeves Brass (UK) is long gone now. I am still using this awesome case years later, every day, and I've never seen another one in the wild.

[Kdanielsen]

Looks like they have something similar with wheels now too.
https://reevesbrass.com/reeves-brass-ba ... 1081-p.asp

Don’t click this link!! It’s definitely not trombone cases!!

[Briande]

Looks like they have something similar with wheels now too.
https://reevesbrass.com/reeves-brass-ba ... 1081-p.asp

Don’t click this link!! It’s definitely not trombone cases!!

Yikes. Sorry. I’ll see if I can go back and delete my original post.

[Danitrb]

I think that link doesn't open anything because that site doesn't seem to exist anymore. Anyway I wonder why this type of arrangement of the parts inside the case is not used by other brands, this seems the most logical, protective and simple, at least for me.

[UATrombone]

Here is a link for such case on Ali Baba:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 52ff3YtV2h

[Vegasbound]

FYI, Reeves brass was/is owned by Clive Reeves, who was himself a fine trombone player I have known him for nearly 40 years from our time together in one of HM forces top bands.

I last spoke to him about 18-24 months ago, his business was growing and doing really well when he suffered a life changing event, he was as I recall he told me playing “walking soccer” when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed and died on the pitch.

He was saved because someone watching knew CPR and managed to save his life, but he died for several minutes.

[harrisonreed]

He didn't die then...

Glad he's okay! Vegasbound, maybe you can reach out to him to see if he's got a website up and running again? It was a really good case.

[Vegasbound]

He didn't die then...

Glad he's okay! Vegasbound, maybe you can reach out to him to see if he's got a website up and running again? It was a really good case.

I didn’t say he was okay, it was life changing, as was the damage caused, that seems to be the reason behind the closure of Reeves brass.

[harrisonreed]

Oh, that's really unfortunate. I hope his health improves!

[Danitrb]

So sad to hear this. I wish him good recovery!