I received the instrument in great condition. The only thing was shipping too longer then originally stated. Was not worth paying for the expedited shipping. Go with regular. Otherwise, I can not wait to start recording some quartet music!!

I have played Tuba and Sousaphone for over 4 decades so my review is coming from the perspective of a player learning this horn as a secondary brass instrument. Shipping: the trombone took a month to receive, and it was delivered well packaged. No dents. It came delivered in top condition. The Trombone: the horn looks and feels very well made. In general the craftsmanship is above average. Well machined joints, solid soldering, no air leaks; in my opinion the quality machining of the trombone parts is surprising for the price point. The manufacturer did not cut any corners. I own older horns that are not as well made as this Trombone. The overall nickel finish looks nice and professionally plated. As another reviewer mentioned, this Trombone needs some valve and slide care before you play it. It's a good idea to clean out the valve casings with a soft brush, and to wipe the valves with a soft cloth moistened in valve oil. It's a good idea to use quality valve oil and to keep the horn clean. The valves need to be broken in. The trombone comes with a mouthpiece. It looks nice but I don't recommend playing with it. I would go out and buy a Bach mouthpiece or something similar. The case is well made. It's sturdy and made of quality insulated padded material. Tonality: for me the horn was slightly sharp, pulling out a few slides corrected my ability to stay in tune. Overall I give the horn an A+ In a world of computer CNC machining and mass fabrication one of the primary differences in high end expensive horns and this budget horn often comes down to valves and the brass composite metals used to make these horns. I don't think this horn has much brass content in it as it does not resonate in the same way as a horn made of brass. The timbre and tonality is nice and this horn will work great for marching band or pep band projects but I'm uncertain how it would work in orchestral or jazz settings where the intonation, and tonality needs to be more precise. A strong experienced player can make this horn sound above average. It's great a student horn.

Really good instrument if you are just starting to learn a valve instrument this is a good instrument to start with. It's tone quality is really good for a price I thought was too good to be true.

Took forever to arrive but it's awesome totally recommend for a beginner no marking on trombone nothing gets stuck a bit out of tune but I mean what can you expect for the price it's not horribly out of tune

I have gotten a few of these lower cost valve interments. So far most have been fine. If you are looking for an instrument to try or expand skills, this is a good value and I would recommend it. If your a high end player this instrument might not fulfill your playing needs. e.g. valve speed and total playing consistency. The issues are mechanical manufacturing in overall part tolerances. This manifests issues in valve action, slide quality and threaded areas. Out of the box valve action can be poor to unusable but this will vary by instrument. To correct this the user must THOROUGHLY clean and properly lubricate the valves and all slides and threaded parts. Once this was done it worked pretty well. I have found this to be "THE" issue in all of the lower cost instruments. After it is cleaned and lubricated the more it is played the more it seems to break in and work better. Overall this is a good value instrument. It looks good and feels good and the cost makes it a overall good value.