79connvictor

Hello, I recently picked up a 1960 Conn Director, because the price was right and I thought a parent of some 6th grader at our school might appreciate not going into further debt to get their kid into band. I was suprised to see it has bottom spring valves. I cleaned it up and greased and oiled everything. I wanted to see what it sounded like so I got my schilke mouthpiece and preceded to try and peel the wallpaper. I've got to say those bottom spring valves feel great. They are soo soft, yet responsive. I never played anything like it before. Are there any really good trumpets still made that use this old configuration? Or are there some older professional horns that can still be found that use them? I would definitely be interested. Is there a down side to bottom spring valves that I am not aware?

zkfan

My '68 Conn Director cornet served me quite well from 1972 to about 2002, when I started to buy a few trumpets. Valves were never a problem. I know that top sprung is preferred for some reason, but as long as they provide a push up, how does it matter where they push from?

screamingmorris

The famous Conn 22B from the 1930's through the 1960's had bottom-spring valves. (That should probably be true of the Conn 12B, which was the Coprion / copper bell version of the Conn 22B.)
So did the 1956 Conn 6B.
So did the 1956 Conn 10B.
All were professional-level instruments.

*The oldest 22B's from the 1920's had top-spring valves

- Morris

lmf

Hi,

I owned a new Conn Director Bb cornet in the early 1960's with bottom springs valves. I've not had bottom spring valves on my trumpets and cornets since, but I found the bottom springs to be very good and I enjoyed the way they worked..

The Conn Director was my first cornet, I didn't know anything but bottom spring valves existed as I was naive.

Best wishes,

Lloyd

MFfan

My Holton cornet has bottom sprung valves and are very good, as does my Roth. My old Remington trumpet (40's?) also has bottom springs and works well. I don't know of any late model horns still use them.

mrmusicnotes

the newer Martin Committee has bottom valve springs.Not crazy over the horn,sound is thin,not particularly rich in tone,but I must say the valves are smooth.Don"t see much of a difference with the valve action compared to my bach Strad.One downside to bottom springs is you have to be a little carefull when you oil the valves that the springs dont come out of there seat on the bottom cap.

oldlou

If one considers that the bottom spring valves are usually lighter in weight that their top sprung cousins, because they have no spring cage to hold the valve spring in place, they 'should be' lighter and faster. This is all theory and can be made wrong by such as the excellent Conn valves that also have a monstrous hunk of cork on their top. I have several trumpets and cornets with just about every valve design known and, if they were properly made and if they are not worn out/damaged/ improperly maintained and lubed, they all work well. I do have some complaints about some valve designs, but then, I am a cranky old fussbudget who still looks for perfection in any thing that I buy and I am usually disapointed after I get the object of my desire. Plastic valve guides and their poor wear characteistics do get me riled, even though some will claim that they are quieter than metallic guides. I say bull!!!!!


OLDLOU>>

Dale Proctor

For what it's worth, my Olds L-12 flugel has bottom sprung valves. I don't know why the flugel has this valve configuration, since I've not seen any other Olds trumpets/cornets with it. Never had any problems with them, but I don't really see much of a difference in their action vs. top-sprung valves. The construction looks to be much more simple, though. I wonder why more manufacturers don't use them?

rowuk

I used to have a Selmer 4 valved picc with bottom sprung valves - worst valves that I have ever owned.
Most of the bottom sprung valves that I am aware of, have shorter piston surface than comparable top sprung models and this would be inferior in terms of being "tight" and in terms of leverage and wear. Remember, our fingers do not push the valves down straight and this skew causes valves to wear unevenly and sometimes bind.

If Brett Getzen is around, he can probably give us an objective manufacturers opinion!
Old Lou shares my feelings about plastic guides. I have never had a trumpet with "audible" metal guides and they are much more durable

gglassmeyer

I would imagine that the spring itself could rub against the valve casing and cause wear (mostly if bent or improperly installed. The other issue is that if you arent careful, you can have the bottom cap shoot off and become dented making it difficult to get back on.