rowuk

I have a Holton Clarke model long cornet with double functional tuning slides - built around 1911. I think it is only cosmetically justified. For a C-trumpet, the tubes on the valves would also have to be shorter to be in tune (mine are not replaceable with shorter slides).
The first slide is after the leadpipe(about 8" into the horn) then comes a short piece of straight tube, a 180 degree bend and then the next slide. The first tuning slide is more than long enough to tune to "A" instead of Bb. Both have water keys and they only fit into their respective sets of slide receivers.

I have seen various horns folded to make them shorter - maybe from the time when (almost) everybody wanted to play cornet because the trumpet was thought to be vulgar (check out the turn of the century wind band stuff or current british brass band - the cornet parts have much more black on the page than do the trumpet parts). Arban clearly distinguishes the superiority of the cornet (of his day) in his Grand Method. The short trumpet looked more like a cornet and for someone accustomed to having the bell that distance from their face it may have been easier to hear while playing.
Crowmadic-can you post a picture?

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

crowmadic

I did what you said and the horn is a 1/2 step flat when I attempt to play A=440. Is there such a thing as a trumpet that converts from Ab/Bb or G#/Bb or is it a B/Bb trumpet. I realize it's all of these presently, but is that what it's meant to be, or am I stuck with a permantly out of tune trumpet?

crowmadic

Thanks for your input. With the shortest tuning slide in the trumpet plays 1/2 step out of tune with A=440. It tunes with Ab on a tuned piano. It tunes like a regular Bb trumpet with both slides in, so I don't know what I have. The horn is dated to around 1911. I'll consider a picture in the near future.

crowmadic

Can you explain "A" slide?

crowmadic

I did what you said and it played a 'B'. What is the combination in this case. Something tells me I don't want to hear the answer.

crowmadic

But it's 1/2 tone flat in either case.

nieuwguyski

This doesn't make sense. If it tunes to Bb with both slides in, it will play higher with the shorter tuning slide. When you talk about tuning to A on the piano, you are pressing down the second valve, right?

Please tell us what notes the trumpet plays, with both longest and shortest slides, with no valves down.

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John N. Nieuwguyski

rowuk

hey Crowmadic,
can you post a picture? Maybe someone has seen this before?

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

crowmadic

John, Thanks for hanging in there with me. With both slides in, and playing only open notes, I get the usual climb from low C to high C=C,F,C,E,G,C. Now, with the secondary slide removed, and the primary slide (with water key) in, and playing only open notes, the following notes MATCH these notes on a tuned piano=B,F#,B,D#,F#,A,B,C#,D#. I'm assuming that if it were a Bb/C trumpet with the secondary slide removed I should be able to read off Piano music using Bb trumpet fingering (no transposing). Thanks for your patience..........tom

Tootsall

I'll guess that you meant to say that it tunes open to "C,G,C,E,G,C" (rather than C,F,C). Also, when you remove the secondary slide the pitch should have gone UP rather than down, as you indicated.

By now I think we're all probably confused... guys, is it possible that Christine is bang on and he has a "high pitch/low pitch" instrument instead of a Bb/A or Bb/C?

Pop on over to the Conn Loyalist website and take a look around and see if you can find anything that looks remotely like yours. http://www.xs4all.nl/~cderksen/ConnTrumpet.html