A sackbut is an early form of the trombone used during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. A sackbut has the characteristic telescopic slide of a trombone, used to vary the length of the tube to change pitch, but is distinct from later trombones by its smaller, more cylindrically-proportioned bore, and its less-flared bell. Unlike the earlier slide trumpet from which it evolved, the sackbut possesses a U-shaped slide with two parallel sliding tubes, rather than just one.
Left to right: replica alto, tenor and bass sackbuts, in Museu de la Música de Barcelona.
Four sackbuts: two tenors, left & middle; alto, top; bass, right.
Sackbut in a fresco by Filippino Lippi in Rome, The Assumption of the Virgin, dating from 1488 to 1493. This is the earliest clear evidence of a double-slide instrument.
Bass sackbut in G by Pierre Colbert, 1593. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. Nearly all trombones use a telescoping slide mechanism to alter the pitch instead of the valves used by other brass instruments. The valve trombone is an exception, using three valves similar to those on a trumpet, and the superbone has valves and a slide.
A tenor trombone
Newsboy Military Band Member with Trombone, Toledo, Ohio
Tenor trombone with a traditional wrap F attachment
F attachment tubing: open wrap, left; traditional wrap, right.