Brassmonkey

About 30 years ago a friend gave me an old cornet that needed a little repair work. "It' yours if you want to fix it" I had a couple of minor dents removed, a stuck tuning slide loosened and it was in playing condition again. A couple of years after that I looked it up in a book that had records of the company and according to the serial number, it was made between 1910 - 1911. My question is, has anyone ever heard of the company? I don't know when they went out of business - 40's - 50's?

I have the original mouthpiece but it's way too small for me. I've tried my flugel mouthpiece on it and it seems to play ok. Nice mellow tone. Kind of stuffy though. Is that common for a cornet? Never played one before so I don't know what I'm looking for in that respect.

Being an elementary school music teacher I've used it in recent years for demonstration purposes with the kids. Comes in handy when doing a jazz history lesson about Louis Armstrong and Dixieland Jazz.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would appreciate it. I'll post a pic in a day or so if needed.

Roland St. Gelais

tom turner

Hi Roland,

Welcome to the TM forum!

You have a Harry B. Jay cornet, though without a photo I'm not sure what model it is. It may say so on the horn, and it may be the Columbia model.

And yep . . . you've got something to talke about to the kids alright . . . for the great Louis Armstrong himself played a Harry B. Jay Columbia cornet in the early 1920s with King Oliver's band!

It is one of those cornets that collectors would like to own, due to the fact that ol' Sachel mouth himself once tooted one!

Armstrong eventually switched to trumpet as a member of the Fletcher Henderson orchestra around 1924, to blend with the two other trumpeters.

You've got a really great cornet to use in your discussions . . . and I really can't think of a better one to introduce kids to early jazz!

The Jay company was headquartered in Chicago

You may already be familiar with these sites. If not, give 'em a look!

Satchmo.net • The Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives

Harry Jay Columbia Cornet

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The latter site is Nick DeCarlis' wonderful site on vintage cornets, and he includes a couple of Columbias in his photo section.



I see you are from Florida. Nick lives in Hogtown (Gainesville) so you might want to drop in a line. He has a wealth of knowledge on cornets and is a fine cornetist himself, in the pre-1950s tradition!



Hope this helps,



Tom

Zaraskabat

Hi Roland,
I am in Ft Myers and like Tom said, drop Nick a note, he is a super guy and very knowledgable. I would love to see a picture of your cornet. As far as it being stuffy, that is how my old 80A was ever since I got it from my grandfather in the early 70's. I had to blow so hard to get a decent tone it wasn't worth it. I had it replated in 73 or so and the only way it played well is if I ran warm water through it. Well I took it in recently to a shop and the guy found it was leaking a lot around one of the slides, he fixed that but it was still stuffy, felt and sounded like there was a few cotton balls stuck in it somewhere. It was the valves leaking so we sent it off to Andersons for a valve job. I just got it back a couple weeks ago and have not put it down much at all. It sounds so great and plays so well that I have bruised my lips playing it so much. If a valve job is what you need, go to a shop you trust and have them send it in. Andersons leaves the valves pretty tight for the shop to lap in just the way you want it. My bill was under 250 bucks, with new valves and a chem clean, it will play like a brand new horn.
Ken

Brassmonkey

Thank you for the info gentlemen.

Tom, my horn is identical to the one on the second link you posted. No pitting in the silver on mine.

Ken, I'll probably buy a decent cornet mouthpiece before passing final judgement on this horn. Using my flugel mouthpiece I like the way it plays in the middle register but as soon as you get above the staff it backs up pretty bad. Maybe a good cornet piece will help...???

Will be sending Nick an email shortly. Anxious to talk with him more about all things cornet.

Roland