Other Interesting Photos

(updated 3/24/21)

Los Angeles Benge NUMBER ONE (courtesy of Barbara Duda)

Lou Duda was the Benge shop foreman from May 15, 1954 (mere months after Elden moved
to Burbank) until he retired on January 1, 1980. His fellow employees made him a pocket trumpet
as a retirement present. Instead of a serial number, they engraved NUMBER-ONE. The bell is
engraved with his start date and end date.
Thanks go out to his daughter, Barbara, for sharing photos of the instrument!

 

Burbank Benge #5744 (courtesy of Bob Johnson)

Bob Johnson purchased this trumpet while a student at North Texas @1964.
He was studying with John Haynie, who had devised the "tune as you play"
system, which is similar to today's "pitchfinders." This is the first example
of this system that I've seen on a Benge.

 

Chicago Benge #2206 (courtesy of Bill Karow)

When Bill Karow purchased this trumpet in 2015 it came with a Bb/A rotor tuning slide that
looks original. The number 12661 is stamped on the rotor. I would guess that Elden Benge
used a rotor from a French horn or cannibalized one from an old cornet, but so far this is
a unique item! The trumpet is currently owned by Vince DiMartino.

 

Burbank Benge #3740 (courtesy of Merle Jenkins)

This is one of only two Benge trumpets I've ever seen that has a star
stamped in this location. The other is #4115. My theory is that
Elden Benge was marking his new innovation, the 5X bell.
Just a theory at this point.

Chicago Benge
"Petting Zoo"

Joe Lill
Lecture/Recital
2/28/07
Northwestern
University
Evanston, IL

Clockwise from
upper left:

#500 (Bb)
#2429 (C)
#2499 (Bb)
#2711 (cornet)
#2972 (C)
#2974 (D)
#3165 (Bb)
#2614 (C)
#914 (cornet)
#610 (Bb)
#546 (Bb)

#560 (Steve Ward)

Here is a picture of the brass rod brace
between the tubes of the 1st valve slide.
These appeared on many, but not all,
of the horns that had the brass rod on
the 3rd slides.

Courtesy of Robb Stewart

This is an accessory for a Benge C trumpet. It's a Bb slide extension; you pull your main tuning slide, put this into the leadpipe and then put your tuning slide into the extension, turning your C trumpet into a Bb. When placed into my brother Michael's Chicago Benge C, the total length of the leadpipe exactly matched his Chicago Benge Bb.

#2454 (Sandy Craig)

#1537 (Sean Mason)

In most early Benge trumpets the bore
size was not marked on the horn unless it
was a medium bore (M) or large bore (L).
Here are examples of the bore markings
on the bell side of the second valve
casing, at the bottom.

Latest ML Chicago without a bore marking:
#2512

Earliest ML Chicago with a bore marking:
#2521

#3446 (Leroy Duncan)
This Burbank Benge also has
double lines on the receiver.

A Whole Lot of Benge Guys - May 1, 2007

I'm not sure how interesting this is, but there were more
Chicago Benges (14) in that room than, possibly, any other
room in the world. Ryan's eleven, Mike's two and my one;
too bad that Joe Summerhill didn't bring his, too!

Click here to return to the Chicago Benge home page.

From left to right:

Ryan Zoghlin. holding his favorite Chicago, #728, which was the first Benge he'd purchased.

Joe Summerhill, who studied with Elden Benge and assisted with the making of trumpets at the Morse Avenue location. He is holding valve section #2801, which was given
to Ryan by Zig Kanstul.

Mike Lill, holding his C trumpet #2429.

Joe Lill, holding his
Bb trumpet #3165.