Mendini by Cecilio Trombone Kit - Bb Tenor Brass Instruments for Kids, Beginners w/Case & Gloves

Update 20-NOV-2021. My rotor started sticking. This procedure is NOT for the faint of heart, and you can damage the rotor if you are not gentle enough. Unscrew the slide section from the bell section. Lay the bell section on your lap with the bell out in the air, not touching anything. Take off the rotor cap. Unscrew the rotor screw on the back of the rotor about ten rotations. Make sure your screwdriver blade fits the screw head! With the screwdriver on the head, *tap* the screwdriver with a hammer to push the rotor bearing out of the rotor housing. Then back out the screw a little more and tap again to get the rotor out of the housing as well. Completely remove the screw and don't lose it! I then polished the rotor itself with a washcloth, dish soap, and baking soda. It my rotor was very very black and green with corrosion. Once it was clean I rinsed it thoroughly. To re assemble, put the rotor back in the horn, set the bearing disk carefully where it came out, and screw the rotor cap back on. Attach the trigger to the back of the rotor, being careful with the orientation, an very gently screw the screw back into place. Brass is SOFT! Be gentle yet firm! If you aren't handy with tools, you can take it to a repair shop and ask them to do this procedure for you. !If you aren't very very careful this will destroy the rotor!!!! Watch a few YouTube of people taking apart rotor valves. Now my rotor is great again!Update: 19 Mar 2020. This is just as good as the Bach 42BO it is copied from. Here is the trick to the slide: it comes with a slide rod. Use slide creme in very, very tiny amounts on the stockings. Wipe it off. Put the slide together and work the slide. Wrap the rod in gauze and work it in and out of the outer slide lots and lots of times. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. You have to really clean the inside of the outer slide. It now plays like a $2500.00 trombone.Original review of 4 stars: Ive been playing the trombone for 40 years. I played a Bundy in junior high, and talked my parents into getting me a double independent Yamaha bass trombone in highschool. As a music Major in college, these two horns were wonderful. The Bundy finally wore out and in 2001 I bought a Martin Urbie Green, by selling the bass trombone. Now I am missing the low notes, so I bought this Mendini. It's a pretty good copy of a Bach 42BO. It's lighter than the Bach, slide is fine, rotor is a touch noisy, petal Bb sounds fine, low Bb is sharp, middle Bb is flat. Overall, for less than $400 I am extremely pleased. I only play in my local community band now so this is plenty of trombone for me. One brace in the main tuning slide has a little bit of solder that wasn't brushed off. This horn will not suffice for a college music Major, or a serious highschooler who needs to post high on recitals, but if you just play for the fun of it, buy this horn. Large bore, open wrap f-attachment, slide is a little heavy, mouthpiece is large shank, standard shape.

I got this for my daughter who is in her first year of band. After seeing what the local instrument company had to rent per the band teacher. Let just say what they wanted me to rent "the instrument " was complete garbage and then let's not forget the outrageous rental fee. I went on Amazon looking for a new trombone as the one they wanted me to rent was brass plated and heavy. Then I found this one and let me tell you it is one beautiful trombone. It's all 100% brass, it's very lite comes with a very nice case, gloves, cleaning cloth, and a tuning sensor. Best of all my daughter loves it! And so do all the other band members.

My 11 year old joined band this year, and this was a great option for him. The case isn’t flimsy either, it withstands daily bus rides from school home. Would recommend super slick slide cream to go with. He’s doing great on this instrument. Very happy to find an affordable option for him. Purchased July 12, 2023.Update 11/13/2024.Still believe this is a great affordable option for those starting out. It isn’t as strong as other materials, tends to get dinged up with use by my middle school aged child. However it was a great starter option without breaking the bank. Oh and the case-I had to repair a handle this week from use, thread separated from the main case. Still holding up for now though.Definitely recommend purchasing a cleaning kit/slide cream as well.

The Mendini trombone is certainly a beautiful player for its price. The lacquer is stylish, the slide moves freely, and it plays very well.However, there are a few problems that could be fixed and are simply minor inconveniences.Upon unboxing, the slide tends to be stiff. There were no dents and the slides were parallel, so I concluded that it needed slide oil. Don't bother with what it comes with; it's useless. Instead, try the Yamaha slide oil, which freed up the slide to its true potential. The slide is smooth as butter; just find the right slide oil.Also, when leaving the trombone unplayed, the valve tends to stick on to its position. This is easily remedied by moving the rotor by hand to free it there, not the trigger (too much force might break the trigger). After that, it works fine. Not the smoothest trigger, but it certainly is well functioning.Another quirk I felt about the trombone is that the metal doesn't feel as thick as my Olds Ambassador trombone. The Ambassador is a very durable trombone, and it has lasted decades with minimal damage. The Mendini, being a Chinese-made instrument, might not last as long. In this case, simple instrument care would certainly extend the longetivity of it.Lastly, the F extension isn't perfect. It seems to be that there is no tuning slide for the F tubing. Is this problematic for some? Probably. But is it better than drawing the slide to the ungodly 6th and 7th positions? Absolutely. All it needs is some compensation by drawing the main slide by a centimeter or so and adjusting for tuning. Nothing difficult.These are some of the faults I found. Am I nitpicking? Perhaps. After all, a $300 trombone isn't meant to be perfect, but this one was certainly close.UPDATE (6/14/17): It turns out that there IS a trombone F trigger tuning slide, except that mine was stuck. I took it to a repair shop to have it unstuck. Now, I can play C/F in tune. The reason why it was stuck in the first place was lower quality production, and this meant having a tuning slide made of metal that corroded, causing that problem.Also, the lacquer seems to not be durable. After playing on the trombone for a few weeks, the areas of the most hand contact seems to have lost its shine. The overall trombone is still in great condition.Lastly, I oiled the rotor by pouring some regular valve oil through the tuning slides. Now, the rotor freely moves and does not become stiff.