Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There is only one reason to give it five stars: it is a hundred-dollar instrument, and I have some deep philosophical objections to them. That said, this is as good as a hundred-dollar instrument can be. No, it is better than you should expect. It's a three-hundred dollar instrument masquerading as a hundred-dollar instrument. What it isn't is a quality student instrument. There's no magic trick to getting one of those cheap. Hundred-dollar instruments are a disservice to the student and an insult to the instrument. The way to make one cheaply is to automate everything possible and to remove the skilled work that is necessary to really set one up properly. That means quality is all over the map. It may play out of the box, it may play if you rework it, it may never play at all. Don't go this route as a young student or parent. You don't know enough to overcome the shortcomings, you won't be able to get repairs, and it won't stand up to hard classroom use. Rent from a specialist in student instrument rentals, or spend for a real student-level instrument from one of the two or three manufacturers who still stand behind their own names (like Yahama). Getting a cheap instrument for a student is a bad idea. You risk them being unable to learn, blaming themselves for the shortcomings of the instrument, being driven crying from music. You risk it breaking just when it is needed most. I wish there was a simple way around it but band instruments aren't just carrying around relics of a Class Society that prices them out of the range of most of us; they are intrinsically hard to manufacture. It can look like a trumpet or violin, have all the parts in the right places, and still be devilishly difficult to play and sound like garbage when you do. Enough of the lecture. Where these instrument makes sense is for the experimenter, the dilettante, the gigging musician who needs a throwaway for a switch part or to take to the playa or throw in the vacation bags. What you need is the skill to fix what can be fixed, the talent to work around what can't be fixed, and the fortitude to throw the whole thing in the trash if neither of those works. Thing is, from my (limited) experience Cecilio/Medini breaks the odds. I've gotten two instruments off them and both shipped as perfectly workable introductory instruments. I'm not saying this trumpet doesn't have stickiness in the third valve slide, a little air leak on the main slide, less than perfect plating, and a generally cheap feel and sound. But it was plenty good enough to learn trumpet on as an adult and will play fine in experienced hands. Six months later it hasn't corroded or lost any parts and the valve action (always the critical part plus the first thing to go) is still good. So, yeah. If you or your child is taking band next semester then hell no. But if you are a clarinetist and want to mess around with the Dark Side then, sure; it's enough to see if you like it and maybe do a little pickup gig while you figure out if trumpet means enough for you to drop $1200 on a used Conn.