Trumpet, B-flat
Maker
Roy Lawler
Date1994 ca.
Place MadeGeneva, Florida, United States, North America
ModelL7
Serial No.39240053
SignedApplied letters along side of bell: R. LawlerMarkingsCut into bell and backed by tape: L7
Stamped on second valve casing: 39240053
Stamped on valve stems: 53
Stamped on valve casings and stems, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionNickel-silver-plated brass, burnished, silver finger buttons, single square with mitered corners at the tube joints, angular main tuning slide, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring inside hollow stem, alignment by two unequal plastic lugs on spring anchor plate, nickel-silver-plated brass pistons, windway 3-2-1.
Roy Lawler has been producing hand-made trumpets and trombones in a small workshop in Geneva, Florida, since 1985, and now in Flat Creek, Tennessee. Lawler explained the idea behind this "square trumpet" as follows: “The L7 was just that ... square. If you draw an L and a 7 you get a square. One year at an ITG convention Cliff[ord] Blackburn, Terry Warburton and myself were astounded with how everyone was buzzing about the heavy trumpets with their new round bends. Well, all of this stuff has been done before so we decided to have some fun. I told them I would make the squarest trumpet, Cliff would make the lightest trumpet, and Terry would make the heaviest mouthpiece and we would meet the next year at ITG to show each other our efforts. So the L7 was just a novelty. It does play but I did not think anyone would take it serious … The serial number is that way so it would not fall into my regular production. I think I made it back in 94?” and “Don't forget if there is not any tape on the inside of the bell where the L7 is cut in, it will not play in the high register.” Despite Lawler's assessment of the unplayability of this trumpet, acoustical measurements suggest that it plays just fine.
DimensionsHeight: 484 mm
Tube length: 1316 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10.9 mm, 8.6 mm, 11.7 mm, 11.69 mm (0.46 inches)
Bell diameter: ca. 130 mm (ca. 5 inches)
ProvenancePurchased in 1998 from Steve Dillon, Woodbridge, New Jersey.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07358
On View
Not on view
1973 ca.