old tom

Hi again here are a couple of photos of the cornet sorry thay arnt that great it is 12cm 4.5 inch across the bell and 29cm 11.5 inchs long i am thinking of having it re silver plated do you think this is worth while having done thankyou for your time

here is a link to the cornet
Sign In

old tom

where it say sign in thats the link
sorry for anyconfusion
tom

MFfan

Hi Tom, can I assume you live in the land of centimeter's? Thanks for the photos. Interesting design on that old Orpheus. The Czechloslovakia origin makes sense from what I know. Looks like there is a leadpipe extension? Different wearing I see and on some of the other tubing. The country of origin on yours can be sort of dated by the political configuration of the country at the time it was made. I can't recall exactly the differences, but there has been some references in other posts or data resources. Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918. I like the short bell design of the horn.

My no-name , no serial Czech small bore trumpet has "Czechloslovakia" stamped on the underside ot the lead pipe. I would estimate it dates to the 30's. I once had another Czech import trumpet that had "Czechoslovakia" stamped in a circular fashion around the end of the lead pipe, near where the MP inserts. Czech companies made many instruments that were exported to many countries to sell under many names.

Whether it is worth it to silverplate it would be a personal decision of yours. Economically I would say, no. If having the horn restored and plated would give you something you would treasure for it's playing qualities and asthetics, etc. it may be "worth it".

__________________
Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet, 1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet, 33 American Standard cornet
66 Olds Ambassador Trumpet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org

old tom

yes it is stamped on the lead pipe just that it isnt very easy to read
im thinking it is a bb instrument as it will tune into my besson 600 with onley moveing the tuneing slide back about 2 inchs i allso have a 1905 bossey if you would like to see pic of it i think i have said before that its no good to play in the band as its high pitch allthough i do have a longer lead pipe that is a a lead pipe if that makes any sence to you but playing the boosey with the longer lead pipe still give problems when i play the f note or first vale
i live in australia
kind regards tom

Gaucho Viejo

I've heard references to "high pitched" instruments and sort of understand what's being talked about - apparently there was, for the longest time, an accepted number of cycles for a given note and, over the years (or abruptly, maybe) it was decided that said standard number should be a lesser amount. Is that what happened? So, did this action render alot of instruments pitched in Bb useless (or untuneable)? Old Tom seems to be a victim of this. I know that if I'm sharp I pull out my tuning slide to "play nice with others". Can a person (Tom for instance) have some kind of extension(s) made for his slide(s) to bring his obsolete instrument back into the fold? If so, which sections would need to be lengthened? Would this be considered a desecration of an historical artifact? At 51 is Tom an historical artifact (I'm 52). This post is beginning to sound a little like one of those TV adds for male enhancement products - my apologies.

Tim

MFfan

Ha, you guys are kids! I am 65 and still going strong, except in the male enhancement department. I am sure there have been other threads on the high pitch,low pitch topic. On many old cornets that have all their parts, some times there are several lengths of lead pipes for different tunings, I guess. I think high pitch was a centime above the low pitch A+440.

Info from a history of early instruments on the web.
As the twentieth centruy progressed, a mouthpipe fixed to A=440 or "low" pitch, became standard. Transposition, therefore, eventually became a necessary component of the cornetist training in the twentieth century. It is not a concern for the cornetist of the ninetiinth century, because of the wide variety of shanks and crooks available to the player.

Alignment of valves in cornets during the nineteenth century was done in a variety of ways. 1. a key on the piston guided the valve, 2. Three unequal lugs on the spring plate guided the valve, 3. a key on the capsule or sleeve surrounding the spring guided the valve, 4. . A screwed pin in the casing guided the valve, 5. A key on the housing and the slot in the piston guided the valve.
In the Edinburgh collection pitch levels on cornets varied greatly
1. Diapson Normal Pitch ( A=435), 2. A=440, 3. Old Philharmonic Pitch (A =452.5),4a. Pitches as high as 100 cents above A=440 existed on some instruments.

As the century progressed, pitches of A=440 and the Old Philharmonic pitch were more common. The high pitch, OPP, was actualy used in England until 1929, properly referred to as "military band, high pitch" instruments. The American Federation of Musician attempted to stanardize at A=440 in 1917, but was not accepted till 1920, which was considered low pitch. a convention of the time was to stame "LP" on leadpipes for such indication. Many cornet players would bring differnt pitched instrument to a job to see what tuned best
You can get the cornet compendium site from Nick DeCarlis' default

__________________
Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet, 1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet, 33 American Standard cornet
66 Olds Ambassador Trumpet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org