Bob DiVall's 1969 Burbank Benge C Trumpet - Boyde Hood Collection
Bob DiVall's 1969 Burbank Benge C Trumpet
From the Boyde Hood Collection
A remarkable 1969 Burbank Benge C trumpet with documented Los Angeles Philharmonic provenance, originally owned by Bob DiVall and later part of the Boyde Hood Collection.
This instrument is featured on Robb Stewart’s museum page, where Stewart identifies it as a 1969 Burbank-built Benge C trumpet, made after Eldon Benge’s death and shortly before the company was sold and moved from Burbank. Stewart notes that the original owner was Bob DiVall of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, at a time when members of the LA Phil trumpet section favored Benge trumpets and used them extensively.
The trumpet later passed from DiVall to Tommy Stevens, who used it for the internationally televised Three Tenors concert at Dodger Stadium. Stevens subsequently traded the instrument to Boyde Hood, placing it within one of the most significant private trumpet collections connected to the Los Angeles orchestral tradition.
Built with Benge’s MLP bore, measuring .464", this C trumpet has a #2 bell, originally designed as a Bb trumpet bell but used here on a C trumpet to excellent effect. Robb Stewart lists the overall length at 19", with a 4 5/8" bell diameter.
This instrument is lacquered and in great, playable condition. There is some where consistent with it's age.
With a documented chain of ownership from Bob DiVall to Tommy Stevens to Boyde Hood, this Burbank Benge C trumpet sits squarely in the West Coast orchestral lineage: Los Angeles Philharmonic artists, Burbank brass making, and a period when Benge trumpets were part of the sound of the section.