Holten Holten French Horns

Advantages: Well built, good value for money, consistency within models
Disadvantages: Bore is too wide for the traditional european sound

My life as a french horn player began on a Holton 177. It is an American full double instrument with a fairly wide bore and made in a nickel silver (not containing any silver, of course...). For those of you who don't know about the different metals the instruments are made from, the three main ones used are gold brass, yellow brass and nickel silver. I won't go into the details, but the gold brass is softer than yellow brass which is softer than ...
...physics behind it, but the net result is agreed by most people to be that the sound of the instrument becomes brighter as you start from gold brass, moving through the yellow brass to the nickel silver. The metal you choose will therefore, to a degree, determine the sound you will make on the instrument. One advantage of the nickel silver instrument for the younger player, however, is that the harder metal means that the instrument is harder to damage. ... Read review

Advantages: compact, light and a great sound
Disadvantages: screw-on bell takes some getting used to

i bought this horn a couple of months ago, and i was very impressed. although it was slightly more expensive than i had intened to pay for it, it is a lovely instrument with a great quality of sound. i found it easier to play a wider range with this horn; i found the higher register especialy was a lot easier to play on this holton than my old one. although my horn is at the lower end of the professional range, it is still a very good instrument, ...
...- on bell took a while to get used to, but makes the horn a lot easier to transport and store; it fits into a box that looks a bit like a suitcase, and is lighter and more compact that my last one. all in all, this is a horn that i would recommend players to buy, especialy if you do not want to spend an enormous amount of money. ... Read review

Advantages: fantastic tonal qualities, light, good value for money
Disadvantages: erm..

ive been playing the french horn for around a decade (and as im only 17 thats a fair while). In this time ive played on a number of different makes of horn including B&H, Conn, Paxman and my current horn which is a Holton. If you already know something about french horns you can skip this next bit but in general horns developed for the US market are slightly more harsh and (without being nasty) brash than ones designed for the European market. Holton ...
...an american manufacturer who seem to have manufactured horns with a very warm and full sound. Compared to the Conn I used to play I find that the Holton is a lot easier to blow and can be played a lot louder before the note splits or goes off edge. This is not to say that with some lip skill the note can be given a good brassy edge if it is required for the style of music being played. Currently I play in a concert band and as a result play a lot ... Read review