screamingmorris

How would the 1974 Conn 6B that I have bought (it should arrive around June 16th) differ from a 1974 Conn Connstellation 38B?

I already know this much from Conn Loyalist:

"...Also, the 38A Connstellation from 1963 on was only available with a brass bell and not anymore with a Coprion bell. So during this period the Connstellation was most likely essentially a nickel plated 6A/6B...
Also, starting in the early 1970's Conn (Abilene) started advertising 6B Victors with brass leadpipes. Since the 6B and the 38B use the same leadpipe, I surmise that the 38B's also had a brass leadpipe..."
- quoted from Conn Loyalist at
The Conn Loyalist

I already know that the 1970's 38B differed from the earlier 38B,
and I already know that the the 1970's Conn 6B differed from the earlier 6B (mine appears to be all silver-plated, but it might be nickel).

So, how would the 1974 Conn 6B that I have bought differ from a 1974 Conn Connstellation 38B in terms of tone, valve action, air resistance, heaviness, etc.?

Since the Conn 6B and the Conn 38B were apparently the only 2 top-end trumpets still being made by Conn in the 1970's, and both had 5-1/8" bells, would Conn have attempted to save money by using identical bell, valves, leadpipe, etc. on both?
Is the Connstellation's nickel-plate and 1st slide trigger the only difference?

- Morris

Dale Proctor

I think that's basically true even back into the mid 1960's. I have a 1960 6B Victor, and it's pretty much a Connstellation without some of the nickel plate and a trigger (and the bell engraving's different, of course). The Victor has a brass bell, but who really knows if early Connstellations had a Coprion bell, or just copper plating under the nickel? That's something that the jury's still out on.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

screamingmorris

CONN 6B SILVER TRUMPET ORIGINAL CASE + EXTRAS - eBay (item 110259123535 end time Jun-06-08 22:19:49 PDT)

The 1974 Conn 6B arrived today and once again I am so mad that I could spit.

During the eBay auction I specifically asked the eBay seller if all 3 valves (pistons) and all 4 slides work OK, and he assured me through private eBay message that they did:
"The 3 valves movement is good and there is no problems with the slides and the unit has had no repairs."

Well, the 3 valves were left loose in the compartment under the trumpet.
When I tried to insert them, the 1st and 2nd valves won't insert at all, not even a fraction of an inch (as though the old valve oil in there is baked on and being an obstruction?), and the 3rd valve cap won't screw on, and the 3rd valve slide is frozen.

The eBay seller said that he will refund, but that still means that I lose the money I use to ship it back to him.
And he still insists that he checked the things that I asked about during the auction and he insists that those things were OK when he checked, which obviously cannot be true, but he now claims that he verified that the valves moved up and down OK without even putting them in the trumpet!

"sHIP IT BACK I WILL REFUND YOUR PURCHASE. I DO NOTPLAY TRUMPHETS i NEVER DID ANY THING OTHER THAN CHECK IF THE VALVES MOVED UP AND DOWN EASY AND THEY DID i DID NOT PUT THE UNIT TOGETHER BECAUSE I KNOW KNOTHING ABOUT TRUMPHETS."

From an eBay seller who has 99.4 percent positive feedback!

Arg......

- Morris

Dale Proctor

Man, Morris, if you didn't have bad luck, you'd have no luck at all. Sorry to hear about the crappy auction. You got it at a really good price, though, so I'd at least take it to a good brass tech and see what it would take to get it sorted out before I returned it. If all it needs is a light valve honing and a slide unstuck, the fix wouldn't cost substantially more than the return shipping to the seller. I wonder if someone had it silver plated and they accidentally plated the insides of the valve cases, too? Are they silver or brass inside? Of course, all this assumes there's a good brass repair shop nearby and you don't have to ship the horn anywhere to have it repaired. Good luck with it.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

Alan Dismukes

The fact that none of the photos in the auction show the valves in the horn strikes me as very odd. Almost all auctions show the horns assembled, sometimes an extra pic or two show the valves removed. Unfortunately, now you know why.

__________________
1974 Bach ML 37 Strad Trumpet
1928 Buescher Bb/A Cornet
1947 Conn 12A Coprion Cornet
1914 Holton New Proportion Cornet

screamingmorris

I used to watch "Hee Haw", too

If I have a repair person try to fix it and it still doesn't work right, I'll be obligated to keep it because I altered it from its sale condition.

Plus, the tops of the valve casings are slightly mangled, as though someone attempted to force the valves into the valve casings without lining up the valve guides!

I sure was surprised at how shallow the bell engraving is.
I had to hold it up to the light just right to find it.
The seller probably had to take 20 photos before the engraving would show up.

- Morris

Dale Proctor

Sounds like it probably had the crap buffed out of it at some point. I'd probably send it back, and the seller should at least pay for the return shipping because of the "uneducated" listing. That is, if he doesn't want a bad feedback...

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

Brass crusader

Morris,
Too bad about your horn there... I once bought an older Conn Director. It was shown as coming with a single gig bag. It came shipped in a box that was too small, the horn was sitting on top of the gig bag, not inside, and when you ran your hand along the side of the box, you could feel the bell about to burst through. It had broken braces, bell mangled, etc. Terrible seller. There are the good and the bad, you definately got the bad.
That horn certainly sounds like it was poorly replated.

Better luck next time

__________________
~Brass Crusader

Yamaha Xeno Custom w/ reverse leadpipe
1947 Olds Super Recording trumpet
1947 Olds Special trumpet
1952 Olds Ambassador cornet
1967 Olds Special cornet
1970's Yamaha 631 Flugel w/ Rose brass bell
1970's Conn 17b Coprion director
Other assorted Conns and Olds
Yamaha and Bach Mouthpieces
1929 Martin Handcraft "The New Master"
1935 Conn 22B NY Symphony Special tpt
'83 Callet New York Super Large Bore trpt.
'35 Conn 32H trombone

tedh1951

So this is why you are screamingmorris, eh Morris?

(Sorry, cheap shot - could help myself - Aussie girls are still wonderful by the way, but you won't find THEM on eBay).

Remember - this joker will get his just deserts - be patient.

__________________

Ted

screamingmorris

I originally chose the name "screamingmorris" because I loved to scream High F's and High G's on trumpet.

I have no musical talent (I am just an amateur hack who learned how to solve his embouchure problems and develop his embouchure well) so those notes do not sound musical at all.
(I no longer have a trumpet for doing such screaming, but I am looking for replacement one.)

Since the only real music I can play is slow ballads like "Danny Boy" and "Amazing Grace" (I love such music), I sometimes wish I had chosen the name "Balladeer".

My embouchure has adapted to the .485 bore Conn 5A cornet well enough that if I use my Bach 7E mouthpiece (about the same cup depth as a Bach 3C) I can take "I Can't Get Started" up an octave to include thin High E's, and when I am fresh I can play very loud High G's a couple of times before my embouchure collapses with "That will be enough of *that*".
And the Bach 7E has a relatively open backbore.
So I am curious how it will feel when I finally find another Conn trumpet that will enable me to return to a .438 bore that I can use with my shallow Weril W46 mouthpiece.
It won't be musical at all, but I will surely be "screaming" again

BTW, when I play "Pagliacci" on my .485 bore Conn 5A cornet, using a deep Bach 7 (no letter mouthpiece), and I take it up an octave while playing gently, the D's above High C sound beautiful and delicate and somewhat Piccolo trumpet in character.
So it would appear that the player's attitude can *partially* overcome the acoustics that are inherent in an instrument and mouthpiece.
So it sounds like a small-bore trombone doing an imitation of a Piccolo trumpet.

- Morris