pBoneBb Plastic Trombone - Lightweight pInstruments Design with Ergonomic Grip - Includes Mouthpieces & Carrying Bag - Authentic Bb Sound for Students & Beginners - Durable ABS - Green

I played trombone in high school and wanted to pick it back up as a hobby. Marching, Jazz, Pep, and Concert. I just needed a starter trombone for some scales and simple songs so I could evaluate whether I should invest in a full instrument again. This is perfect for that, and I think it's actually great for anyone who wants to learn trombone at home - not just kids! I'm not sure I ever really need the brass anymore, until I want to get a trigger trombone again - and even then, a competitor makes a trigger version of the pBone!Pros:It's a real trombone. So many people try to talk down the pBone as though it's a toy, but this is a true plastic trombone. It sets up and handles almost identical to a real trombone. A professional could play this just like a regular brass trombone. Someone who goes to rough gigs, like ska bands, may want to consider a pBone so they don't have to lug brass around.Full-featured. Has everything from a real mouthpiece port if you want to use brass mouthpieces, to a spit valve, to a slide lock. The only feature this trombone is missing is that the point between the bell and slide if friction-fit, which I'll cover below. But for the most part, again, this is a real trombone.Lightweight. I wish I could go back in time and give one of these to myself when I was marching. It's so light and easy to handle, it's great.Attractive colors. I got the purple one, and it's a gorgeous deep color. It's high-quality plastic.Great sound. Sure a brass trombone will "ring" better than plastic, but unless you're playing Beethoven in a quiet concert hall, you probably won't notice. For practicing or playing in a small club, this trombone will suit anyone. The sound is absolutely fine for tuning and improving form.Damage resistant. I know it sounds silly to say that plastic resists damage better than brass, but consider what happens if you ever do really whack the slide so it starts to stick or becomes unusable. With brass, you could be in a situation where you need to go into a repair shop and pay a specialist to gently heat and bend the metal into shape. That could be expensive, or even require new brass at great expense. With the pBone, either the plastic will bounce, or if it cracks and you buy another one. Buying a new pBone is likely still cheaper than repairing a trombone. Heck - buy two! You could go through quite a few pBones before adding up to the price of one brass trombone.Cons:Small hands warning. The major downside is that the major joint between the slide and the bell is friction-fit. This means you're using your thumb around the bell's cross bar to hold the instrument together. This is the natural position used to hold a trombone, but anyone with especially small hands or a weak thumb could have trouble holding the two together. If you have trouble wrapping your thumb around the cross member when holding a trombone, you'll need to consider some other way to help reinforce this joint. They really should fix this and just make a tab to fix the bell at a specific angle. I'd rather have the trombone fixed at 90 degrees, than have to baby it. I'm sure you could use something simple like a rubber band to assist a small child if their hands are truly too small for the hold. You could easily glue this joint permanently if you intend to keep the trombone on a stand anyway, although you'll lose the ability to store it in a gig bag.Out of the box the pBone slide really is scratchy and a bit slow. This is fine for anyone new to the instrument, as it's quite tricky to maintain a brass slide for a newcomer anyway. I'd say the slide feels no worse than my first trombone did before I learned to maintain the slide. The manufacturer says the slide will wear in with just spit and time. I'll probably add a dab of cream to assist the process, but for practicing scales and simple songs this is perfectly fine as-is.Neutral:The slide has a lock and a pinky lug so during play you should wrap your little finger around the lug to hold the slide in place. I'm used to the older style where the slide's first cross bar is higher so you held the cross bar with your little finger. Adjusting to the lug is weird but I'll learn.Overall:I love my pBone so much I don't really need a brass trombone anymore. The pBone is plenty for practice, basement jams, and even gigs. The only reason you'd ever need to upgrade is if you need special features (trigger), or if you play concert halls. Parents of children who may someday compete in concert should still consider the pBone. Not only is it better for learning (lighter, inexpensive if you change instruments) but a child should be more comfortable playing without worry that they'll damage an expensive instrument.

This is the third plastic trombone I have owned. None are very good. I only bought this one because I had surgery where I couldn't lift much. This did allow me to continue to practice a little. I found that there is serious leakage in the connection between the bell section and slide section. Applying very heavy grease to that interior connection helps a lot to give the instrument some stability, but it is still useless below about D on the staff. I had better luck with the slide than most people. Check the ends to make sure they don't have rough edges that will gouge into the outer slide. Polish the stockings to a mirror shine. I use Simichrome polish for this. Then apply a very light coat of a sealer to the entire inner slide so that it will tend to repel the condensation as tiny balls. I use Meguiar's Tech Protectant for this. Others use Carbonara wax. I also use a single drop of Reka lubricant to each stocking. The slide action is decent, but still noisy.

I gave this 5 stars with a "but". It 5 stars isn't because its the best trombone in the world. It is just better than anyone would expect from a plastic and fiberglass trombone; especially from china.Its light, the slide moves very freely. No sticking at all, even for its light weight. Rest the slide on the ground and yank the trombone up as fast as you can and the slide won't leave the ground. Lose your grip and it'll go flying. Best thing, when you pick up your just dropped slide, it still slides perfectly.Its super light. I thought it would be a bit heavier. Feels a little fragile and I'm sure it is. But if you're used to treating your brass horn nicely, it shouldn't be a problem.Ok, sound:It sounds like its made of plastic. That is, the brass it doesn't have, doesn't ring. It sounds a little muted. You can still blare but it plays quietly. (i've been on a big bore horn for a while, it may be my imagination). I can play this quieter than any other brass instrument in my house (several). It sounds a bit more like a baritone/euphonium than a trombone. That's fine for around the house though.The slide is noticeably loud. Its raw fiberglass (not gel coat) against brass and you can hear it. We'll see if that gets better over time. I'm getting some black "sludge" off the slide, and the brass ends are showing polishing, so it may be getting better.Mouthpiece is a very small cup size. Not what I'm used to, but it seems to make the horn very playable.I haven't had any trouble with any octave range like one reviewer said somewhere. Plays very easily. Very responsive. Maybe its the tiny mouthpiece more than the horn.Other stuff:The "jiggs pBone" and "made in china" logo are silk screened on and not the kind that flakes off easily with a thumbnail. Good for keeping the logos looking "good" but I was really hoping it would be a vinyl decal I could peel off and make it look like an enameled horn. Using a small hard plastic widget I was able to get the "CE" logo off the made in china decal with little residual marking. I'll continue on this and then hit it with some rouge and a buffer wheel and see if I can get the pBone label off later.There's a seam that runs down the horn as well. Its not sloppy but its visible. They polished it off the inside of the bell, but its quite noticeable on the outside of the bell and down the spine of the horn. That slightly misaligned mold type thing. a right hand bump on the top, left hand bump on the bottom. Nothing to really do about it. It is thick enough where it could be sanded and buffed to make it unnoticeable, but why? It already says "pbone" on it.Conclusion:Worth a shot for a practice horn or just a conversation piece. I bet it would be nice for caroling or street playing in the cold. Packing it on your back on a bicycle etc. Super light, and the case is tiny and light too.Just had a funny image of the "around the campfire" crowd. Instead of someone pulling out a harmonica or a small guitar... pull out your trombone and play some songs around the campfire. Just don't get too close, or your horn will melt.

I’ve been playing for over 25 years and I bought this for my 8 year old who is showing some interest playing my Conn 88HFirst, incredibly lightweight which is great for a small, young beginner.Second, sound is surprisingly good. Of course it doesn’t ring like brass but this definitely does not feel like a “toy” in any way but a true instrument.Third plus, comes with 2 mouthpieces. That’s just a nice plus.Some reviews mention the friction connection for the bell and slide being a problem. So far I haven’t run into issues myself with this slipping or being uncomfortable. I’ll update if this changes.My only con is that the slide is pretty noisy when moving between positions, but again, for plastic it is not bad.

I bought this more out of curiosity than anything really and I am gob smacked. As a trombonist of around 30 years I thought "this is gonna be naff" but I had also seen some very interesting videos on YouTube by Jiggs Whigham and other noteaable musos. How wrong was I? Incredibly light, plays lovely looks ace and costs as much as a decent mouthpiece. The slide was slightly rough to start with, but after a good couple of hours playing (and regular wiping with a cloth), it has played in and is very smooth. Incredible!! My only niggle is the zips on the gig bag feel like they will last about 10 minutes, after so much effort going into the quality of this instrument I would have expected a little more. But for the incredible price, you are getting a wonderful trombone. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Having played the trombone for 12 years in my youth, I was a bit skeptical of the plastic instruments. I saw this on a lightning deal and decided to see how it fared. I was pleasantly surprised with how well a plastic trombone played. It will never be able to match the more expensive, well made trombones but for a starter instrument, it will allow someone, particularly a child, to learn to play the instrument at an inexpensive cost. Sometimes when you buy a cheap instrument, the child will become frustrated with the quality of sound being made and give up. The pBone alleviates this problem.

You get what you pay for. To teach a beginner the p-Bone is ideal, no major damage to an instrument of any significant value. The slide appears to be unstrainable. The sound to the untrained ear may also be an asset for a learner. Only fit as a training tool, any student worth his salt would want a real worthwhile trombone even before they get through the Tune A Day book.

Great quality and lightweight instrument for a budding young musician! The fact that it is easy to take care for is not to be taken lightly either. Our pBone doesn’t have any problems with the slide and with its carry case provided it is easily transported back and forth to school.

Having played the trombone at school, I spotted this, and at the price decided to go for it. I love it! In the intervening decades I have forgotten most of what I learned, but armed with a beginner's book am really enjoying playing again.The sound is good, and it's very lightweight and portable. It would be great for kids who are learning,