Good luck with that!
Professionally, I think the G bass trombone died in the 60s. They were
helped to their demise by the late Ray Premru, an American bass trombonist
who went to England in the early 60s and started taking jobs away from Brits
with his great sound on the Bb/F bass trombone. He played in the
Philharmonia mostly, plus he can be heard on some of the Beatles records
("Sgt Peppers," I know) and all of the early James Bond films.
The G bass trombone is the reason, in case anyone wonders, for the bass
trombone being the only instrument in the British brass band (other than
timpani) not written in treble clef and in either Bb or Eb. The G bass
trombone was desired, but often replaced by a Bb tenor when the former was
not available, so the part was written in bass clef, concert pitch, in order
that it could be read by either instrument. Probably a similar situation to
the bass and alto trombone for classical composers, except that
transposition was not involved in the latter situation.
Basic knowledge if the G bass trombone is helpful for playing the bass
trombone parts of Elgar, Holst, and the other Brits. For example, a thorny
passage in the "Jupiter" movement of Holst's _The Planets_ can be made much
easier when one knows that the trombonist-composer left out one 16th note
because of it's difficulty on the long-slided G instrument.
RBH
Lawrence Yates wrote:
The G bass trombone with it's handle was still around (though rare) in
England in the early 70's - I had the misfortune to have to teach someone on
the thing!
Cheers,
Lawrence
Lawrenceyates.co.uk
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