Shopping at Hub van Laar's ...

Last time I visited Hub van Laar's workshop (at the end of April), I ordered a new Oiram trumpet. There was a waiting list, so I had to await Hub's telephone call. Today (25 July 2007) is the day: the trumpet is ready and I can go over to pick it up. Some time ago, I have met two trumpet players on the German Trompetenforum: Peter Gerber (Bern, Switzerland) and Ansgar Brinkmann (a professional classical trumpet player from Mönchengladbach, Germany), who will also be at the workshop to collect their trumpets. Peter ordered his Oiram around the same time as I did. Hub built five trumpets for us to test, four Oirams and a B8, so we could each make our choice. Some of the instruments were completely finished; others still needed some work. That gave me the opportunity to have a few things adapted to my wishes. As you can see in the photo, the Oiram with mouthpiece (my final choice), has a slightly different receiver and (on my request) misses a water valve on the third slide. The top right trumpet is the B8. Due to the support in the tuning slide, the lighter valve caps and the lighter receiver, the B8 plays more compact.

4 Oiram trompetten en een B8 (rechtsboven)

Since my last visit, there have been quite some new investments in the (work)shop. Hub's working space, that used to be upstairs, is now near the entrance, where the shop used to be. The now available space houses a huge wall unit, where instruments are displayed and where you can find all kinds of accessories like mouthpieces, mutes, etc. Upstairs more test rooms are available.

hub van laar

De nieuwe kastenwand in de testruimte boven in de werkplaats

I understand that Hub offers more finishes for his instruments than he used to. Next to the familiar silver and gold plated instruments, you can have your flugelhorn or trumpet plated with red gold or palladium finish. Palladium gives the instrument a greyish appearance, like white gold: most elegant, especially in a "brushed" version. Too bad, at the time of my visit, no such instrument was available so I could not take a picture. Below are photos of two brushed gold plated Oiram flugelhorns, to the left yellow gold, to the right red gold. Red gold is gold with a high percentage of copper, hence the colour.

hub van laar

2 geborsteld vergulde bugels (links een Oiram rechts een B2)

We agreed to meet at the shop at 11.00 A.M. and after a first round of testing, we went out to lunch in a local restaurant. That gave me the opportunity to get better acquainted with Ansgar and Peter and his wife. An hour later, we continued our testing. We made our final choices and Hub put the finishing touch to the instruments. After the usual photo shoot of the proud new owners and their instruments, it was time to hit the road for the ride back …

ik (l) en Peter Gerber (r)

mijn nieuwe aanwinst, een ongelakte Oiram trompet., klik op de foto voor een buroblad (1024 x 768)

meer info: www.hubvanlaar.nl

Copyright ©, 2007 Erik G. Veldkamp, All Rights Reserved

© 2011, E.G. Veldkamp, All Rights Reserved

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