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tom turner · 09-14-2006, 01:07 AM

Hi Coach, and WELCOME to the Vintage Horns Forum!

This Conn is indeed a 1927 model and I am well-familiar with it.

Conn lettered all their trumpets with a "B," (Cornets were "A," French Horns ended in "D," and so on.

You also indeed have a fairly early 18B trumpet. I once had one about the same year as yours, and in the identical configuration.

I purchased it to have a "poor man's C trumpet," but found out the horn didn't play well in C, with terrible intonation problems that couldn't be ironed out.

It played much better in the key that the trumpet was actually designed around . . . the key of Bb. As you know, the "funky" tuning slide that has the little rotary valve is the Bb slide and the rotary valve drops the horn into the key of "A."

The trumpet should also have two complete sets of valve slides with it. The shorter ones are when using the "C" tuning slide so that the valve combination slides will the the correct length for a C trumpet.

The longer valve slides are for Bb. Pull the 1st or 3rd valve Bb slides out a little, and you'll also see little round grooves notched into the inner legs of each slide. These mark where to pull these slides when you play the trumpet in the key of "A." If you don't pull them and make 'em a little longer (and in the correct proportion, the trumpet wouldn't play in tune in "A!"

The horn should also have it's original black Conn case, which will have spots that hold all the extra valve slides and tuning slide, no matter which key you have the trumpet set up for!

It also came with a spot that holds a Conn metal straight mute, plus the other things you mentioned including two mouthpieces.

I suspect that one of the mouthpieces (missing a rim part) was one of the Conn "visible embouchere" mouthpieces that they touted back then. It came with a clear, reddish rim. I suspect the rim deteriorated or got broken, although they were pretty tough.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

THE VALUE?

This is really hard to know, unless you can post some JPEGs. Even then, it is hard to guess without checking out how it blows, and if the valves have good compression.

If the valves are worn out (and leak compression), a valve job cost about $300. So, you'd have to subtract $300 off the value of a nice speciment that didn't need a valve job.

If I were to guess, and the valves were the typical "ok but not great," and if the horn didn't show signs of bad damage and the slides all were free . . .

A VERY ROUGH GUESS FOR VALUE . . .
In silverplate (mainly intact) I'd guess about $250-$300 would be what it would bring on ebay with good photos included. Then again, some horns bring less . . . and others bring a lot more, depending on condition (including the case and accessories being intact).

Sadly, the 18B trumpets of that vintage were sort of like "adjustable wrenches" in a mechanic's tool box. In other words, they did several things "ok," but didn't excel in any particular key. I didn't keep mine too long, but then again, I bought it as a "player," not as a collectable.

AS A COLLECTABLE . . . it does have some strong merit if in really nice shape! Older, mature owners tend to baby their horns vs. school kids who drop 'em and abuse many of the vintage horns seen today.

If the horn looks really nice, it also looks really cool and different with the Bb/A slide in it!!!

Don't fret for a moment about a person's name engraved well on the bell! To me, this usually shouts "This horn was owned by an adult!" That's not a bad thing when shopping for a vintage horn!!!

I hope this helps! I'm sure your grandfather had many wonderful hours making music on this nice old Conn trumpet. Conn was the largest maker of band instruments back in those days, and they make a lot of models of horns. It would probably require a person to be a millionaire in order to collect every model they made back then!

Here's a neat vintage horn website, with cool photos . . . and links to Paul Aylick's wonderful vintage trumpet site that specializes in Conn. You'll have fun checking it out.

Also, there's a link for Rich Ita's website. He's a vintage instrument restorer of note, and he can give you a lot more information about your horn than I can!

http://www.vintagecornets.com

Sincerely,

Tom Turner

PS: Here's a link to Paul's site, with gorgeous photos from a great photographer/trumpeter: http://www.paulayickvintagebrass.com/

09-14-2006, 01:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
tom turner Mezzo Forte User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Georgia, USA Posts: 788	Hi Coach, and WELCOME to the Vintage Horns Forum! This Conn is indeed a 1927 model and I am well-familiar with it. Conn lettered all their trumpets with a "B," (Cornets were "A," French Horns ended in "D," and so on. You also indeed have a fairly early 18B trumpet. I once had one about the same year as yours, and in the identical configuration. I purchased it to have a "poor man's C trumpet," but found out the horn didn't play well in C, with terrible intonation problems that couldn't be ironed out. It played much better in the key that the trumpet was actually designed around . . . the key of Bb. As you know, the "funky" tuning slide that has the little rotary valve is the Bb slide and the rotary valve drops the horn into the key of "A." The trumpet should also have two complete sets of valve slides with it. The shorter ones are when using the "C" tuning slide so that the valve combination slides will the the correct length for a C trumpet. The longer valve slides are for Bb. Pull the 1st or 3rd valve Bb slides out a little, and you'll also see little round grooves notched into the inner legs of each slide. These mark where to pull these slides when you play the trumpet in the key of "A." If you don't pull them and make 'em a little longer (and in the correct proportion, the trumpet wouldn't play in tune in "A!" The horn should also have it's original black Conn case, which will have spots that hold all the extra valve slides and tuning slide, no matter which key you have the trumpet set up for! It also came with a spot that holds a Conn metal straight mute, plus the other things you mentioned including two mouthpieces. I suspect that one of the mouthpieces (missing a rim part) was one of the Conn "visible embouchere" mouthpieces that they touted back then. It came with a clear, reddish rim. I suspect the rim deteriorated or got broken, although they were pretty tough. HOPE THIS HELPS! THE VALUE? This is really hard to know, unless you can post some JPEGs. Even then, it is hard to guess without checking out how it blows, and if the valves have good compression. If the valves are worn out (and leak compression), a valve job cost about $300. So, you'd have to subtract $300 off the value of a nice speciment that didn't need a valve job. If I were to guess, and the valves were the typical "ok but not great," and if the horn didn't show signs of bad damage and the slides all were free . . . A VERY ROUGH GUESS FOR VALUE . . . In silverplate (mainly intact) I'd guess about $250-$300 would be what it would bring on ebay with good photos included. Then again, some horns bring less . . . and others bring a lot more, depending on condition (including the case and accessories being intact). Sadly, the 18B trumpets of that vintage were sort of like "adjustable wrenches" in a mechanic's tool box. In other words, they did several things "ok," but didn't excel in any particular key. I didn't keep mine too long, but then again, I bought it as a "player," not as a collectable. AS A COLLECTABLE . . . it does have some strong merit if in really nice shape! Older, mature owners tend to baby their horns vs. school kids who drop 'em and abuse many of the vintage horns seen today. If the horn looks really nice, it also looks really cool and different with the Bb/A slide in it!!! Don't fret for a moment about a person's name engraved well on the bell! To me, this usually shouts "This horn was owned by an adult!" That's not a bad thing when shopping for a vintage horn!!! I hope this helps! I'm sure your grandfather had many wonderful hours making music on this nice old Conn trumpet. Conn was the largest maker of band instruments back in those days, and they make a lot of models of horns. It would probably require a person to be a millionaire in order to collect every model they made back then! Here's a neat vintage horn website, with cool photos . . . and links to Paul Aylick's wonderful vintage trumpet site that specializes in Conn. You'll have fun checking it out. Also, there's a link for Rich Ita's website. He's a vintage instrument restorer of note, and he can give you a lot more information about your horn than I can! http://www.vintagecornets.com Sincerely, Tom Turner PS: Here's a link to Paul's site, with gorgeous photos from a great photographer/trumpeter: http://www.paulayickvintagebrass.com/