R11Z .481/.491" - Eb/D alto trombone with trill valve

Where this comes from

The part other shops don't tell you. Three separate questions, kept separate on purpose, each with its source.

• UK company

  Registered at Companies House as MICHAEL RATH BRASS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS LIMITED, number 04233517. Checked 2026-08-29.

  Means the business is a British legal entity, not a British-sounding name owned elsewhere. It says nothing about where anything is made.

• UK operations

  Stated by the company: "Each instrument is constructed by hand in the Rath workshop in the north of England." Source.

  Means people employed here, or premises they actually work from. We keep this separate from the company badge because a registered office can be an accountant's spare room, and a company can be registered in Britain while everything it does happens somewhere else. Where we have not looked, we say so rather than assuming.

• British-owned

  No majority shareholding traced outside the UK. Companies House.

  Read from the register of people with significant control, following the chain of holding companies. It does not gate anything: a firm can be made here and owned elsewhere, and that is worth telling you rather than hiding.

• Where it is made

  The maker doesn't say, so neither do we.

  This is about the individual product, not the company. A British firm can sell things made abroad, which is normal and not a criticism. We would rather tell you which is which than average them into a score.