Quote:
Originally Posted by pangaea  I just bought a Cavalier trumpet on Ebay for so few dollars it's almost criminal--or perhaps that's all it was worth! In any event, I'm looking for some info.
I basically bought this horn so I could test out the whole "peashooter" feel...it's kind of an inexpensive dry run before I plunk down a bit more for a 40B vocabell or a New Era (horns I like admittedly JUST for the way they look).
So: I know the Cavalier is a Conn stencil. What I don't know is: how does one tell the bore size? there are no marks to indicate whether it's the Conn #1, #1 1/2, etc. I know from the ConnLoyalist and other net resources that it's either a 90B, 92B, or a few other model numbers in the 90s. But how is this determined? Also, the serial number does not seem to be in agreement w/ the published Conn serial numbers--this one is around 50,000, but I also know it was made between about 1930 and 1936, so something doesn't add up.
Finally, is this body essentially the same body used for the 40B and 58B? is my idea of trying out a Cavalier to see what these more expensive models feel like totally flawed?
thank in advance.
Scott |
The Cavalier might follow the Pan American serial number list at
The Conn Loyalist
since Pan American was the less expensive division of Conn that produced many stencils.
A list of the Conn and Pan American and Cavalier models is at
conntrump.html
The Cavaliers are mentioned as 90B, 92B, 94B and 98B.
And at
The Conn Loyalist
If you do not have a caliper for measuring the diameter of the bore at the 2nd valve slide, an easy way of determining bore size is to see if the tuning slide of a very common vintage Conn Director with #1 .438 bore fits your trumpet or is way too small / loose in your trumpet.
If it fits, then your trumpet is also a .438 #1 bore.
If it is too loose, then your trumpet is the .459 #1-1/2 bore.
Some of the Pan American and stencils were decent quality although not of usual Conn standards, but other Pan American and other Conn stencils were of poor quality, as mentioned at
The Conn Loyalist
So you cannot judge a fancy Conn trumpet by trying out a cheap Conn stencil.
That would be like trying out a Bach Bundy trumpet and using that experience to judge how a Bach Strad would probably feel / play / sound.
You can't even play a pro-level Conn 22B and use that to judge how a pro-level Conn Connstellation would feel, because although they have the same bore size they feel / play / sound completely different.
Even a 1920's Conn 22B is quite different from a 1940's Conn 22B is quite different from a 1960's Conn 22B.