Here's a picky of me going nuts on my ever faithful Jupiter slide trumpet. Yes, it does look like a trombone, but if it were a trombone, I'd be a giant! It's really just a trumpet (same mouthpiece, length and bore) that instead of having valves to make the tube longer, it has a slide. There is such a thing as a soprano trombone, which apparently has a larger bore, mouthpiece and price tag than a slide trumpet. In the days before valves there was the soprano sackbutt (the sackbutt being the precurser of the trombone). The slide trumpet is now rarely played with any serious intent: The only player of note that I know of is in a band called Sex Mob. Oh, and James Morrison plays one that has both valves and a slide! The Jupiter Slide Trumpet is the only one I've found available and at only $300, it's the kind of instrument that people buy as a novelty and never get around to playing. For the trombonists, I should mention that the positions change relative to the bell when you change the tuning slide, which keeps things entertaining. On the older Jupiter I have, 5th position is at the bell, whereas the newer ones have 4th at the bell, like a tenor trombone. Unfortunately this means that the curved tube bumps into your face, so I prefer my oldy. To cut down on cases when travelling, I've managed to fit my slide trumpet into my guitar case, which required me hacking off the end of my guitar's headstock, giving it a lovely flying V appearance (which Doug DeVries tells is a bit of a modern trend in guitar making... how hip am I? By mistake, of course).