Dale Proctor

I bought a Conn Victor cornet on eBay week before last. It looked terrible in the pics, and I won it for $29. It arrived a few days ago and it did look bad - but it was all there, and the valves are in really good condition. I unstuck the mouthpiece, cleaned and oiled the valves, and played it a little (with my mouthpiece, of course). It played nice, even though I'm sure it's filthy inside and the valves are out of alignment. It has a patch on the leadpipe, though, and the engraving on the bell has been buffed waaaay too much during a previous repair.

Now, here are some before and after shots I took this morning. I removed what was left of the lacquer with Krylon OFF! paint remover, and polished it (for hours) two nights ago with MAAS metal polish. I took it to brass band practice last night and played it on a couple of songs to get a feel for tone and intonation issues, and let me say, this is a VERY good-playing cornet, even with the valves not aligned. I just dropped it off at the local instrument repair wizards, Southeastern Musical Services, for new corks and felts and a valve alignment, and to get a couple of slides unstuck. The only thing that would keep me from doing a complete restoration on it (assuming I still like it after a few months) is the over-buffed bell and patched leadpipe. These two things don't seem to affect the play of the horn, but do affect the collectability and value, so I'll probably just keep it as a player. FYI, it's a 1963 Conn 5A Victor cornet, .485 bore - a pro horn in its day, and fairly rare today.

Before







After

A.N.A. Mendez

That MAAS is good stuff, but like you I do it all by hand, lots of tedius work, nice job!.I actually designed a "rack" to mount the horn on while polishing, I wasn't sure it would work till I used it a few times.It saves a lot of frustration, my wife will only hold the horn while I polish for so long!

screamingmorris

Is it available at Walmart, Lowes, etc, in the United States?
How expensive?

- morris

Dale Proctor

Yes, it is good stuff. It's on the aisle with the silver polish and other cleaners at the Super Wal-Marts around here. It's a paste, comes in a tube (in a blue and silver box, I think), and it's around 5 bucks if I remember correctly.

stchasking

It looks like a Conn Director.
Does anybody else think so?
I played a Victor in junior high and high school and it had the fine tuning shank and was elongated with a tighter coil.
I'll probably wish I hadn't posted this since it may say Victor right on the lead tube.

A.N.A. Mendez

Another MAAS project, 3 hours....

Dale Proctor

Yes, it has a similar shape to the 1960's Director (maybe that's why I got it so cheap), but the leadpipe and tuning slide configuration are different. This Victor also has the same valve section as the Connstellation. It plays much better than a Director. And it does say "Victor" on the leadpipe....
Here's a pic from the Conn Loyalist site:
The Conn Loyalist

The Victor cornet most are familiar with is the model you had, a longer cornet with the opera-grass tuning mechanism.

brunets

What a nice job!

I was wondering if there is now any kind of protection on the cornet or if you leave it raw brass ?
I may be tempted do to this treatment to my 1948 Conn trumpet...

Stéphane

Dale Proctor

I'll leave it raw for now. I removed the lacquer only because it wasn't original, and half of the newer stuff was gone. If your '48 lacquer is original and isn't too bad, I'd leave it alone. After the valves are aligned I'll play it a few months to see if it's a keeper. If so, I'll need a better bell on it before I spend the money to have it relacquered. The original bell on it seems fine, but someone buffed most of the neat floral engraving off. If I can find another one, or maybe a Coprion bell from a Director, I'll complete the job. If not, I'll either keep it raw and just play it, or shine it up and put it back on eBay.

brunets

Hi,

Ok, here are the "horror pictures" of my Conn 22B New York Symphony (I found the model name yesterday!) :



As you can see, the lacquer is in really bad condition. I may be tempted to do the same job as you but there is a small problem that make me hesistant. There is also a small crack at the bell/case junction :


This trumpet sounds mavellous when the man behind do his job properly. Is it worth repairing the small crack (a small brazing to fill the crack may prevent its propagation) and make it relacquered or even silver plated ?

Stéphane