ilikethetrumpet

Hi all,

This past Easter weekend I visited my alma mater in Appleton, Wis. on a whim with my fiancee. Sitting in a book store killing time while her bridesmaids tried on dresses, my dad called me randomly to say he was on his way to Manitowoc, Wis. (an hour away) to purchase, nay, steal a vintage Conn New York Wonder that he had seen in an antique store the week before.

Now, my dad's a euphonium player and my birthday was coming up, so I thought, sweet! When I mentioned that I could be there at the same time as he would, he seemed surprised that I wasn't in Iowa City. Apparently his plan was to resell it online.

So we get to this antique store, and everything is horridly overpriced. A set of kitchen tongs, for instance, goes for ten dollars, clocks for high three-figures, etc. This Conn New York Wonder in its original case with its first mouthpiece is there for 50 (but he talked them down to 45).

What's wrong with it? There's a dent in the bell right after it curves out of the valve section, it was missing a valve cap and spit valves, and the Bb-A keychange mechanism is missing a screw and/or a component.

So when he found that the market for these was not exactly gold, he let me baby sit this horn for a little while. We put on a dummy valve cap and a duct tape spit valve, and it really plays like a beauty! After a coat of Tarn-X the finish is about as good as a 90 year-old horn should be expected.

I've heard that Rich Ita does good work restoring vintage horns, but what should I plan to be facing if I wanted to have this overhauled? Also, does anyone know of a New York Wonder with a working key-change mechanism? My teacher has a horn that is exactly the same and is also missing the Bb-A mechanism. (The reason that I'm so curious is that having a cheap A cornet would make the cornet/2nd part to the Stravinsky octet less annoying and more fun to play.)

Are there original replacement valve caps still in existence? Finally, I already have a first-line cornet, and if I (we, rather) were to get this shaped up, what is a ballpark value for these vintage Conns?

Thanks for reading, and I beg your pardon for my extended narrative format!

__________________
Professional Student, Amateur rest-counter

rowuk

Christine the dutch Connloyalist can probably help! her nickname is:

Connloyalist

and her web site:

The Conn Loyalist

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.