Adams F4 Selected Series Flugelhorn in Clear Lacquer: Extended range beauty!

Addendum that I meant to put on the original review: Rating: The reason for four stars vice five is the case. It’s a good and secure case, but I don’t like it. I’m more of traditional hard case user I guess except when I am taking my trumpet or cornet somewhere to play with just a gig bag. The craftsmanship on the case is fine, I like the carrying strap, and it’s a goodlooking case, but I have a couple of issues with it. There’s nowhere to put the mouthpiece (that I have found), so it should be placed in a mouthpiece case in the side bag. I have lost items when I didn’t have a zipper completely closed or came open while I was traveling. I don’t think this zipper would budge without help, but that is an issue. Secondly, it’s sort of awkward getting the F4 out of the case or putting it back in. When I had five minutes in my office the other day to play a piece of music I was looking at I wanted to play it on the F4, but I chose to use the cornet instead because I can go from cornet completely packed up to playing it in just a few seconds. I can get my trumpet out just as quickly. Until I figure out a better method, this Flugelhorn takes me a minute or so to get out or to put back up. It’s certainly secure in the case, and I like the soft bag the horn is in inside the case, but this is extra latency for no good reason that I can see.

I have held off writing the review on the Adams F4 because of a mix up in sending my entire order. I asked for a ACB Flugelhorn mouthpiece too, but it didn’t make the first shipment and had to be sent later. Service: Excellent! I was in conversation with Josh for the last several months about getting a flugelhorn and finally had enough of a break in my schedule to order it. UPS: Excellent! The horn came in on UPS ground. I paid on a Monday afternoon, it went out the door on Tuesday, and the horn was in my hands on early Thursday. I live a good two-day drive from their store, so I didn’t expect Ground to deliver it that fast. USPS: As expected! ACB sent the missing mouthpiece out the door on the following Monday, but the mouthpiece didn’t arrive until late (almost midnight) on Thursday. Adams F4: Excellent! Out of the box, it’s a quality horn. It’s beautiful. No issues apparent anywhere. I haven’t decided about how I feel about the three colors of metal on the horn, but it plays so well I don’t care. I have a Yamaha professional cornet that was given to me new several years ago which took months or longer to really break in. This flugelhorn was ready to play out of the box. All that was needed was having the lead pipe adjusted for tuning. I don’t think I could say enough good things about the horn. Some people like to use their left hand on the fourth valve, but I tend to be more standard in form similar to how Doc Swihart plays his down in Austin Texas. Lower Tuning: Good! I am using an extra half step and the third valve trigger to correct the tuning (mostly) when I use the fourth valve which is to be expected as this is not a compensating horn. I might find a better way to hit those notes, but that’s what I have so far. Basically, this means that I don’t have a good way other than lipping to play the lower C sharp (concert B natural) Comfort: Excellent! This horn is easy to hold and lighter than some three valve flugelhorns I have held. At least it feels lighter. If I ignore the fourth valve, it plays better than most three valve horns. Range and Mouthpiece: My upper range on this flugelhorn using an ACB 1.25 MDF mouthpiece is comparable to my range on my cornet. I use a Denis Wick 2 on the cornet (I tend to like around 17mm diameter cups for trumpets too), and this ACB 1.25 has a bigger inner diameter than my cornet mouthpiece though it isn’t quite as deep. I haven’t played this horn/mouthpiece combo enough yet, but so far they seem to slot in and sound quite well from the low notes to well above the high C. I think I would definitely get an Adams again if I were to get another horn. I’m interested in their horns outside of flugelhorns too, but for flugelhorns I can see getting any of them. I’d probably go for the Adams Sonic if I got another today, but I could just as easily be talked into the F3 or F2.