View source for Sackbut

== Instrument sizes ==
[[File:Praetorius Trombones 1614-1620 Syntagma Musicum.png|thumb|Trombones in ''[[Syntagma Musicum]]'' (1614-20), by [[Michael Praetorius]].]]

Sackbuts come in several sizes. According to [[Michael Praetorius]], these were:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Voice
! Praetorius' name
! Praetorius' pitch
! Modern pitch
|-
| alto||Alt oder Discant Posaun||E or D||F or E♭
|-
| tenor||Gemeine recht Posaun||A||B♭
|-
| bass||Quart-Posaun or Quint-Posaun||E and D||F (quart) and E♭ (quint)
|-
| double bass||Octav-Posaun||A (octave below tenor)||B♭ (octave below tenor)
|-
|}

[[File:Bastrombone, BK-AM-61 crop.jpg|thumb|Bass sackbut in G by Pierre Colbert, 1593. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam]]
The pitch of the trombones has (notionally) moved up a semi-tone since the 17th century, and this is explained in the section on [[#Pitch|pitch]].

Because the tenor instrument is described as "Gemeine" (common or ordinary), this is probably the most widely used trombone. The basses, due to their longer slides, have a hinged handle on the slide stay, which is used to reach the long positions.

[[File:Contra bass trombone by Georg Nikolaus Öller. M242 (crop 1, white).tif|alt=A contrabass sackbut built in 1639.|thumb|Contrabass sackbut in B♭ by Georg Nikolaus Öller, 1639, Stockholm. The Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.]]
A giant contrabass sackbut known as the {{lang|de|Octav-Posaun}} ({{lit.|octave trombone}}) was known in 16th and early 17th centuries, and is represented by only a few existing instruments. One surviving original instrument in B♭, an octave below the tenor, built in 1639 by Georg Nicolaus Öller in Stockholm, is housed in the [[Swedish Museum of Performing Arts|Scenkonstmuseet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hem.passagen.se/posaune/Oll.htm|title=Oller|date=19 May 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000519045644/http://hem.passagen.se/posaune/Oll.htm|access-date=22 April 2021|url-status=usurped|archive-date=19 May 2000}}</ref> In addition, Ewald Meinl has made a modern copy of this instrument, and it is currently owned and played by Wim Becu.