| Re: Vintage Conn
The sweetest playing horn I ever blew is also the the absolute worse! LOL My grandpa's 1921 Victor New Wonder Cornet. I got it a couple years after high school because every time we visited, he had me go play that thing for him. It stunk and you had to blow your brains out to get any kind of a tone out of it, like it was packed with cotton balls. And UGLY! Half the silver was rubbed right off it and did I mention the smell? Well, after he died, grandma gave it to me and knowing it never had a dent in it, I looked at the pretty bell and wondered... I took it to a shop in 1973 to send it in to see if it could be fixed up, it came back with new silver plating and the message that the valves were shot and they could not fix it. It sure did look pretty but still played like it was stuffed with cotton. So it went in its case and stayed in a closet until a couple months ago. When I bought my daughter a new trumpet I mentioned it to the guy at the shop and he asked me to bring it in, maybe he could fix it. Well, he found a leak in the hourglass tuning slide but the valves were leaking so bad it was stuffy sounding, just like always. He convinced me to send it to Andersons for a valve job. Well, it came home last month and I have not been able to put it down. It has the solid silver bell, the satin body glows, the polished bell and engraving are beautiful, but the sound! You have the cornet purists and the trumpet purists, but this is a long cornet, usually snubbed by both. Played soft and low this thing can almost cry, but punch it and you can get a trumpeter's attention. I am having fun experimenting with mouthpieces, it seems switching just gives it different voices. I have a few favorites but not just one and I am ok with that. I think granpa had me go play that thing back then hoping to hear what I hear now. Maybe he thought he was the one that was wore out when it was the horn that was wore out.
I also have a 1925 Conn 22B that has a chunk of trombone slide for a leadpipe, what an adventure that is to play! If I can ever get the valves to work right, I might just get a real leadpipe for it. I know there is a good horn in there though, it tries to come out sometimes.
I have a few other old horns that are not Conn's, a 1925 Holton Revelation, a pristine York from 1914-18 with fancy gold plating in the bell and engraving, a 1945 Holton Collegiate and a mutt Ambassador.
Oh, and I still want that Connstellation I never got back in high school. As soon as I run accross one I can afford, I will have one.
Ken |