Martin Band Instrument Co.
Handcraft Imperial Trumpet
Elkhart, Indiana
#119660 c.1937

I had read that the 1930s Martin Imperial trumpet was a great design and some think just as good as the later Committee model so I was glad to pick up this beat up example to try it out. What appeared on the auction listing to be missing the second valve slide turned out to be not so; the complete part came in the bottom of the shipping box!

The stuck second valve also meant that the horn was dropped on the second slide, causing it to bind up at the same time the piece was broken off.

Here it is before any work was done.

The bell, lead pipe and bell curve were all bent out of shape so this has seen a lot of abuse. Thankfully the valves seem to be pretty tight. My older Martin Dansant trumpet has top sprung valves so perhaps they switched to bottom springs in the 1930s to save on production costs.

Some photos after straightening and some polishing.

Now all cleaned up and playing great again!