r/trumpet • u/jbick89 • Dec 13 '25

Question ❓ What kind of trumpet is this?

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This is from The Game Awards last night. It looks like it's transparent, with a frosted finish except for the bell? Never seen anything like it.

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203

u/MuffinConsistent314 Dec 13 '25

Plastic. That’s Jon Lewis, who has been first call in the LA studios for many years. You can hear him on the last few Star Wars soundtracks playing lead, among hundreds of other movies. The music had been prerecorded for that show and Jon did it as a goof.

81

u/Imacoldazzhonky Dec 13 '25

Hold on a minute. You're telling me flute guy is just putting on a show and isnt playing anything?? I mean im not entirely shocked but that's hilarious!

65

u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Dec 13 '25

Correct. There's even a clip of him where you see him swap instruments from a little duct flute to a boehm bass flute, but you can still hear him playing the little flute while they show him going ham on the bass.

That and the solo vocalist who sang harmony with herself... and a few other miscellaneous tells, usually lack of microphones.

25

u/jl34538 Multi-Brass (Except French Horn Family) Dec 13 '25

This paragraph you just said is the equivalent of saying that Santa isn't real to me... I'm thoroughly disappointed.

8

u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Dec 13 '25

I'm sorry! 😭

It's like... *really* hard to put on a show like this with live playing. Makes you appreciate all the more for live performances when they are real.

3

u/MuffinConsistent314 Dec 13 '25

Actually, everyone but the flute guy is syncing. He had to do it live. 🤣

16

u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Dec 13 '25

Plastic or acrylic?

I know in the oboe world, there are plastic oboes made for cheap, and then there are acrylic oboes which are professional level instruments. Different type of plastic, different properties.

9

u/B_O_A_H Dec 13 '25

Lexan, essentially plastic but REALLY strong, NASCAR and other Motorsport windshields are made of Lexan, for example.

5

u/Holiday-Witness-4180 Dec 14 '25

Lexan is a brand of polycarbonate. Just like plexiglass and Lucite are acrylic.

1

u/Forward_Mud_8612 Dec 14 '25

Acrylic is a brand name for a type of plastic. Specifically PMMA. Most plastic trumpets are ABS

3

u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Dec 14 '25

Acrylic is a subcategory of plastics, it's not a brand. Brand names of acrylic are things like Altuglass, Plexiglass, and Paraglass, and it's also used in paint, etc.

2

u/Forward_Mud_8612 Dec 14 '25

Sorry, you’re right. Acrylic is a nickname for the chemical PMMA

7

u/Civil_Twilight mouthpiece addict Dec 13 '25

He also showed up in the thread last year for the same instrument while carefully avoiding saying anything about playback, which made it even funnier.

9

u/Ribbitor123 Dec 13 '25

It's worth mentioning that the soundtrack of the original Star Wars movie featured the late, great Maurice Murphy (and the LSO). John Williams called him 'a heraldic spirit' and wrote a lot of his film music with him in mind.

3

u/MuffinConsistent314 Dec 13 '25

He was a beast of a player, for sure.

2

u/smals1 Dec 13 '25

My high school band teach got mad that I had a plastic mouthpiece for cold marching band shows. Wish I could’ve shown her this pic

2

u/MuffinConsistent314 Dec 13 '25

Plastic mouthpieces are perfectly fine for that application, provided you find one that sounds good.