Bought for $20 at Value Village, but the valves were stuck due to being dropped. (I bought it as a toy, whether for me or for Daniel had yet to be determined.) There are a couple of bad dents in the tubing (one, and two), but nothing that should prevent it from actually playing. The finger hook is gone. Benge 7C mouthpiece in fair condition. Looks like it has the initials "KW" scratched onto the third slide ring mount (the ring itself is missing), though just badly enough done that this could be only random scratching that sort of looks like initials. The mother-of-pearl button inserts are missing. Later I found an empty plastic Bach/Selmer trumpet case at the same store for $6, and I bought that too. Now the horn's protected from further damage. I tried to loosen up the valves and I was able to get #1 to work well enough, but the other two are wedged solid. While trying to fix these two I managed to swell the threaded ends of their valve casings so that the lower caps won't go on any more. Oops. (One of the main functions of the new case is to keep all its parts together, another is to store the horn without the mouthpiece in the receiver so that it won't get jammed again, which Daniel did once already by dropping the horn.) Ferree's sells thread repair tools, but you need the exact size and threads per inch, you need more than one, and they're each more than the horn was! Looks like statistically it ought to be one of 36, 40, or 32 TPI, in that order.
Update: Wednesday, May 6, 2009. The missing valve button inserts were annoying to me, and I had an idea. I checked, and .410 shotgun brass bases were a close fit for the missing inserts. I cut the rims off of three of them and sanded them down until they nestled into the buttons, then glued them in place with dabs of Shoe Goo. Voila! Instant button inserts. Well, I think it looks better! Images: Before, and After.
Saturday, October 22, 2016, disgusted with the state of this horn, and my part in making it worse, I dropped it off at the shop to see if it could be rendered playable inexpensively.
Friday, May 25, 2018, the shop called and said it was ready. She
spent several hours repairing the valve casings, and also did a
slide freeing, cleaning, port alignment, and some bell straightening
and dent removal. The horn looks good, and per my request she
preserved the patina. $163.20 was the total. Steep-ish, in a way,
but a good value for the dollar, and it's an object lesson to me on
not being careless stupid. The horn is worth the total
investment at this point, although not more than that. It still
lacks a finger hook, which can be made right at any time should that
become an issue.
After a (2009) conversation with her brother my wife asked me if we had a trumpet we could loan to her nephew, who was considering taking up that instrument in grade school. It was a bit of a surprise to me to figure out that in spite of all the instruments we had laying around here we didn't actually have one. We had only the one 'spare', my old Conn, and I needed that to remain available in case I should need a backup. Right about then I began to regret slightly having sold the Getzen cornet. (Not really, I got more for it than I'd need to put out for a 'loaner'.) Almost immediately I hopped onto Craigslist and eBay, and found this one for $50 on eBay, shipped. A cornet is arguably slightly better for a young student as they're easier for short little arms to hold. Though rough-looking, it wasn't all dented up and the valves and slides worked, so it should clean up well. (Brasso, perhaps, and a rattle-can of spray lacquer?) If the kid sticks with it I'm sure he can 'earn' a better one with time. (Not from us, I hope.) Even if nephew doesn't go this way we've got other nieces and nephews, not to mention our own son, any of whom might want to take up the cornet in the future.
eBay description:
Up for auction is this Conn Director trumpet [cornet], in case, #759XXX. I would say [that] for its age this trumpet is in poor to fair condition. I say poor because it will at least need new varnish. All of the slides move freely, the plungers move up and down. I do not have a mouth piece for this trumpet. I do not see any major dents on the trumpet, but I am sure there are smaller ones. I am not a horn player, or any type of expert on horns. Because of this item's age and condition I am going to sell it as-is for parts or to fix. If you have any questions please ask before you bid.Good luck!
Auction images:
| In case | Bell, side | Valves | |||
| Right side | Receiver | Bell |
When the horn came it looked pretty good, mechanically. One small dent in the bow, and the receiver is cocked slightly. The bell rim has minor deformation, but you have to look closely to see it. Probably mildly dropped a few times. The slides all worked well, as did the valves; the valve caps all come loose easily. It played fine with a flugelhorn mouthpiece (all I had that would fit). Pretty good, altogether, only the lacquer condition looks bad. (There was maybe 50% left.) The case is labeled "LAUSD" and "ELEM ORCH.", no doubt vestiges of its former life. The horn is also 'engraved' with these (and its serial number) along the bell. I bid on and won an old long-shank Conn 4 cornet mouthpiece from eBay ($8), when it came it looked plenty good enough and played, so now this horn has a mouthpiece permanently in the case.
Oh, and the nephew decided to play violin so the horn languished in the closet.
The horn did get used when we got a
chance to play in the back of a pickup in a parade in Laclede ID (2010). I didn't want to take good horns
out in harm's way, especially on an unfamiliar gig, so this is what
I played. I chose the cornet because it was smaller and less likely
to bang into something, and no real worries if it did. It worked
fine, though the repeated Sou-sadistic repertoire (Stars &
Stripes, Liberty Bell, and Yankee
Doodle/I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy/You're a Grand Old Flag)
nearly killed my face. (Jill played the Getzen bass trumpet rather than her
nice baritone, due to my concern
about this unfamiliar gig. The other instrumentation was tuba,
accordion, and bell. [Apparently the prior year's parade was the
first for this musical group, and was just the tuba and accordion,
walking. They figured out very soon that this particular parade is
not walker-friendly, and hitched a ride on the back of a truck to
finish.])
It looked like the Laclede parade gig was on again the next year
(2011, #2), and when I dug out the horn
it looked to me even more scabrous than ever. Since this is now my
'lucky parade gig' horn, rather than use something else I decided to
see what I could do to dress it up a little. I boiled it in a pot
of water and managed to strip off most of the remaining lacquer.
(It came off easier than I'd thought it would, in spite of
supposedly having Conn's later epoxy lacquer.) With the hot water,
a session with paint stripper, more hot water, and a stick I was
able to take off most (if not all) of the remaining finish, even
down in the bowels; it peeled off in stiff cellulose-y sheets. I
then used fine steel wool to buff down the rough dark patches where
the lacquer had been gone a long time, restoring a relatively even
brassy color and texture to most of the horn. Brasso was next,
though I wasn't all that thorough. It was starting to look shiny
enough, so long as you didn't look too closely at the pitting and
erosion wherever the lacquer had been gone. A wash in hot soapy
water and a toweling, and I set it aside to dry for the night. The
next day I wiped on some automotive poly finish and buffed it off,
then finished with a topcoat of Pledge. (To catch any bits I might
have missed with the poly.) Cheap and easy to maintain, though not
very durable. OTOH, how durable does it have to be for a
once-a-year duty schedule? Looks good enough now, anyway. I
greased the slides and oiled the valves and play-tested it, it still
worked. (I tuned it and then for fun I tried pulling the extra
slide out all the way. The cornet nearly made it down to A, and
with a bit more out on the main tuning slide it did. If I should
ever need a trumpet in A I guess I could use this one!) Last year
I'd borrowed a non-fitting lyre and taped it to the horn, which
worked but was not very satisfactory, so I also ordered a lyre (to
be tucked into the socket for the missing third-slide ring [perhaps
that socket was intended to be dual-duty]), and only after it came
did I stop to consider the fact that I now wear bifocals; I can't
tip my head back enough to aim the close range on the progressive
bifocals at the lyre and still play! Hmm, this isn't working quite
as well as I'd hoped, there goes $3... maybe there'll be room for a
wire music stand in the truck. It's either that or one of my old
pairs of glasses, I guess. I'd also ordered a
1¼C cornet mouthpiece which I tried out, and I
don't like it nearly as much on this horn as I do on my main horn. It's also easy to overblow
this cornet, and in that respect it seems very much like my old
similar-vintage Conn trumpet. I
still have hopes that the 1¼C will somehow help
my endurance on this gig, even if it's only by giving me something
different to swap to, otherwise there goes my $20 too. A few days
later I checked the valve alignment and #1 was noticeably high, #2
was high about half as much. I cut some cardboard washers out of a
soda-pop carton and stacked two on #1 and one on #2, underneath the
cork bumpers, making sure not to cover the vent holes in the valves.
That evened them up. (There is a line on each valve stem that's
supposed to align with the top of its valve casing cap.) I then
pulled the bell slide and covered the open pipe with my finger and
blew into the horn. I felt a breeze on my chin, the tuning slide
receiver was leaking where it joined the pipe that turned to enter
the first valve! I cleaned it and ran a bead of cyanoacrylate glue
around and then hit it with the accelerant. No more air leak. I
then checked the various slides and bent the splays out of them so
that they mated correctly and went in easily. I didn't notice any
real improvement in playability after repairing these minor flaws,
but they couldn't have been helping and it's nice to have everything
in good order. I picked up a lyre socket (with screw) at the repair
shop, $7.50. That and a smoke wrench, some solder (and the world's
worst soldering job), and a piece of 1/8" square steel rod
leftover from the Unimog grille repair project and I had a custom
dogleg lyre extension that lets me wear my now-normal bifocals. It
puts the music at the plane of the bell, off to the side a bit, in
my preferred music-reading position. A piece of cereal-box carton
and some in-case-of-wind clothespins and I'm ready, except for
practicing!... The gig went fairly well. For whatever reason I
wasn't as beat this year as last. Factors: 1) 2 trumpets. We
didn't exactly spell each other, but having two (on most parts)
reduces the strain. One piece had a separate T2 part; 2)
1¼C mouthpiece. I think it helped hold me
together better as I circled the drain when compared to the smaller
ones I've played up 'til this year; 3) Shiny(-er) horn. Hey, it
could make a difference! The parade was about the same as last
year. Liberty Bell, Stars & Stripes
(sans repeats), and Yankee Doodle/...Dandy/Grand Old
Flag medley, to which we added (this year) an armed forces
medley. (We chopped it back up and played each individual service
piece 2× instead; page turns in the back of the truck were not
going to work.) Essentially we played eight pieces in rotation.
About four or five times through the roster for the whole gig. 2
trumpets, baritone, tuba, accordion, and 'bell' (a cast pan lid).
Absolutely perfect weather, and an appreciative local audience. If
it weren't for the speed bumps through the park I'd have no
complaints at all.
The Laclede parade gig was on again the next year (2012, #3), and
when I dug out the horn pre-rehearsal
it looked dull and cloudy, I guess the wax job didn't hold up all
that well after all. I dug out the MAAS metal polish, and with a
modest effort it started looking pretty good. Supposedly the MAAS
also has protectants in it, so I guess we'll see how it looks next
year! The valves didn't even really need oiling, though I did oil
them. I played it a bit, it was fine. More or less ready for the
gig, except for practicing! We had a rehearsal, and the music was
the same as the prior year. I also ordered a 5-leg K&M
in-the-bell trumpet stand, I've needed one of these for years.
About $20 for a used one via Amazon, not sure it'll turn up in time
for duty in the parade...The gig went fairly well, again. We had: 1
each cornet, baritone, tuba, clarinet, accordion, electric guitar,
and cowbell. (Daniel was on cowbell, he did pretty well.) Being on
a Wednesday, both participants and observers were sharply reduced.
The parade moved swiftly, we only made it twice 'round the
repertoire over the route. (We chose not to play during the long
unattended stretches.) Unfortunately due to a mishap getting the
power inverter going for the guitar amplifier we were late to the
marshalling point, and we were last before the fire trucks that mark
the end. Unfortunately their sirens and horns were really quite
detrimental to our ability to play, and to be heard. Still, we had
fun, and the current intention is to do it again next year, but
to really try hard not to be in back!
The Laclede parade gig was on again the next year (2013, #4), and
when I dug out the horn pre-rehearsal it
looked dull and cloudy again. It seems that waxing after the MAAS
metal polish doesn't make the shine hold up any better, so skipping
that in future will be a lot less work. With a modest effort with
the MAAS it started looking pretty good again, and was easily done
while watching a bit of mindless TV. The valves didn't need oiling,
so I guess they must be in pretty good shape...and again the gig
went fairly well. The instrumentation was significantly augmented
this year, we had to deploy our car trailer to fit everybody. (We
sat on festively-draped straw bales.) We had: 2 cornets, 2 alto
horns, 2 euphonia, and one each tuba, clarinet, accordion, banjo (Jill's, replacing the electric
guitar of last year's mad wiring scramble), and cowbell. (Daniel
was on cowbell, he did OK, but sloppier than last year.) A couple
of the pieces had been rearranged for the increased instrumentation,
and Tavern in the Town/Happy Wanderer was added. Being
on a Thursday participants and observers were up from the prior
year, but still down from what I remember of our first year. The
audience was very 'clumpy', it had been wretchedly hot in the days
before and so they sought out the shady bits, abandoning long
stretches of shade-less road. As a result the parade moved swiftly,
we only made it just over twice 'round the repertoire over the
route. (We chose not to play during unattended stretches.) We
successfully avoided being anywhere near the fire engines this year!
Our driver did a very good job on the speed bumps. This year I used
my computer glasses, an old set of unifocals that were now a bit
weak for full distance correction, which helped, but I still had a
lot of trouble reading the music, I got lost a number of times. I'm
probably going to have to switch to a music stand from the lyre, and
make full-sized copies of the music. The weather was nearly
perfect, sunny and warm and with enough breeze to take the edge off
the heat. A lovely time was had by all.
Another year for the Laclede parade gig (2014, #5), and when I dug
out the horn pre-rehearsal it looked
dull and cloudy again, but only on the bottom side where it lay
against the case. On top it looked a lot better, just starting to
develop a rich color. (It wasn't waxed the last two years, but
there may be some spray wax lodged in the nap of the case which
caused the blooming.) This year I used some very fine 3M automotive
rubbing compound (I got a full quart of #1 06085 for 50¢ last
year at a garage sale, it says it's for removing P1200 scratches,
I've used it on [s]crap horns before) and brought it all to an even
shine. The slightly rough treatment seems appropriate given that
the horn isn't one I care much about, the jug of polish was so cheap
I can really slather it on, and all the pitting means that a coarser
polish might actually help improve its appearance. I then treated
the horn with my recently-acquired and highly-acclaimed Renaissance
wax, since it spends most of its time in storage. We'll see if that
helps preserve the appearance for next year. While I was at it I
used a dab of Shoe Goo to stick down the loose corner-protector
rivet on the case. That tended to stick out and hang up on things,
scratching them, etc... And once again the gig went fairly well. The
instrumentation was mostly unchanged this year, except that we were
short a cornet and at the last minute the banjo couldn't make it.
We had another baritone player so Jill covered the Trumpet 2 music
on her B♭ soprano sax,
which is much louder than a clarinet. We had: 2 alto
horns, and one each cornet, soprano sax, euphonium, clarinet, tuba,
accordion, and cowbell (Daniel). The car trailer was festively
decorated, and this year we all used Manhasset music stands, also
decorated. (Much easier on my eyes than the lyre would
have been!) Parade attendance seemed light to me, as did
participation. Surprising considering that it was Friday, but it
felt a lot like last year. We were placed right up front this year,
and as a result we moved rather rapidly, which ultimately resulted
in a short performance, so endurance wasn't a real problem.
...And yet another year for the Laclede parade gig (2015, #6). When
I dug out the horn pre-rehearsal it
was again dull and cloudy, but not inside the bell, only where it
contacted the nap of the case. In many places it looked pretty
good, just starting to develop a rich color. (I had waxed it last
year.) I again used the very fine 3M automotive rubbing compound
and brought it all to an even shine, and then followed up with
Renaissance wax. This treatment clearly worked last year, but not
nearly as well as I'd like at preserving its appearance in storage.
Still, it wasn't too difficult to restore the horn to a
parade-worthy appearance. Of note is that the valves did not need
oiling when I got out the horn. For us the gig turned out to be
stationary this year, mostly because of the excessive heat, so we
set up a canopy over the top of the trailer parked on the side of
the road and used it as a stage. We decorated as normal, and used
Manhassett stands. It went well, and Daniel played bassoon this
year, except when clanking the Liberty Bell. (Jill played tenor sax
this year. Seemed a bit less obnoxious than the soprano she used
last year. We had: one each cornet, tenor sax, clarinet, euphonium,
tuba, accordion, and bell.) We had a new bell this year too, a $3
handbell I got off Craigslist. It had a crack and everything! I
never did oil my valves, it was working fine.
...Another year for the Laclede parade gig (2016, #7). When I dug
out the horn pre-rehearsal it was again
dull and cloudy, but only in some areas. The rest was a rich brass
color, the pattern didn't really make any sense. Oh well! It
didn't take long to bring it all up to a high shine using the 3M
automotive rubbing compound followed by Renaissance wax. The
valves again did not need oiling when I got it out, I did our
rehearsal with it still un-oiled. We liked the canopy over the
trailer last year so much that we've added stake pockets to the
trailer, and we're re-purposing the metal parts from an old
trampoline frame to make Connestoga-style hoops over the bed to
which we are lashing a white tarpaulin so that we can be mobile
again, but with shade. We'll see how that works. The
trailer's also getting 'fresh' paint. (The deck is getting some
rather tired surplus beige latex paint we were given a few years
ago, the frame is getting regular flat black enamel that was on
sale.)... The gig went well, and the refreshed trailer was much
appreciated. The canopy seems to trap a bit of the sound that would
normally be lost upwards, and we could hear each other better than
usual. We were eleven: two tenor horns and one each trumpet,
cornet, tenor sax, clarinet, baritone, bassoon, tuba, accordion, and
djembe/cowbell. I believe that we could fit up to fifteen on the
trailer, five ranks of three seated abreast (each with a Manhassett
stand and all the trimmings) if we needed to, though it would be
fairly tight. I thought my horn, polished only a week before the
gig, had already lost some luster, maybe I need to polish it again
the day before.
In Fall of 2016 another nephew was considering taking up
the trumpet, so this horn was ready to volunteer if necessary.
But... the kid went with saxophone by way of clarinet so it was
again stood up on the way to the Prom...
I really need to sell this. I have plenty of horns and having a
once-per-year player is an unnecessary affectation, and the shelves
are getting pretty cluttered. We're about out of school-age
relatives... After some thought, for 2017 I decided to switch to
my Benge 3X+ for the parade, and to
put this horn on the market.
I posted it for sale on Craigslist, Tuesday, September 5, 2017.
Saturday, September 9, 2017 it sold, for my asking price. It was the first caller on it, which
is kind of amazing. (No, I do not think this is proof that I had it
priced too low, I think I just got lucky.)
Before the Conn cornet could even get here I
ran into this horn at a yard
sale, and at $50 it was right in my price range. No dents or
significant bends, but lacquer getting rough. The edge of the bell
is bent in slightly, not creased, perhaps it was dropped a short
distance onto carpet? Should be easy to push back. The horn is
essentially complete and ready to play, with Bach 7C mouthpiece,
Bach/Selmer plastic blow-mold case (the same as I bought for Daniel's
Ambassador toy), cleaning and oiling kit, and two
method books. No lyre or mount for one, and the third-slide ring is
missing. All slides and valves worked properly. I figured the
extra horn (whichever one that should turn out to be) could be
flipped without losing money, perhaps even making a dollar or two.
I queried TPIN about the relative merits of
these two student horns, and got back a couple of replies:
and, regarding the Brasso and rattle-can lacquer idea:
My $100 Olds Ambassador trumpet, the one I lend and play in hazardous
places, is like that and it's great.
Update: Monday, April 2, 2012. We were on a long weekend road trip
and were likely to get back too late to go home first before band
rehearsal, so I threw this horn into the truck just in case since I
didn't want to drag my Bartin and its
overlarge case all over the place, nor risk anything happening to it
like getting the case banged up, or even stolen on the road. (The
King has a smaller and more durable case than the cornet.) Yes, it was needed, we did get
into town a bit late. It played fine after the valves were oiled,
but is also nothing particularly special. Just another decent
student horn. While waiting in rehearsal I used my thumbs to remove
most of the small bend in the rim of the horn.
In late March 2013 I decided that we didn't need to keep this horn any
longer. I cleaned and lubed it, and polished the exposed brass, and
assembled it with case and accessories, completely ready to play. I
used a hole punch set to make cardboard spacer rings out of a Girl
Scout cookie box, and then aligned the valves using them. Perfect.
I also made a replacement slide ring out of heavy brazing rod, I
think it came out pretty well. I put it on Craigslist, priced at
$150 because it was complete, with all necessary accessories, and
completely gone through and eminently playable—a far better
value than the typical Chinese junk in that price range. I figured
that if it didn't sell by Fall I could start lowering the price or
accepting offers. I'm in no rush.
...The horn sold Wednesday, July 17, 2013, for my asking price.
The buyer turned out to be a member of my
community band, a saxophone player. He wanted to noodle on it
through the remainder of the Summer, then pass it on to his daughter
for school. Sounds good!
My mother really got taken on this one. We think she found it at a
thrift shop, she bought it for her granddaughter.
It needed work, so she took it to the local music store (Korten's in
Longview, WA, I believe) where they put more into it than it was
worth. (They restrung it, and I think the bridge fell off and
needed repair.) I don't think she recognized that it was a Wal-mart
First Act axe that cost maybe $70 new. (I bet the shop sure did!)
I know she wasn't happy about the repair bill, which was quite
possibly more than that, and certainly was more than she paid for
the guitar in the first place. This is, I think, the same shop that
sold her the Conn trumpet and its
mate for somewhat inflated prices oh so many years ago.
(She did like to support local small businesses, though.)
Granddaughter was thrilled, but I guess was not exhibiting the
degree of care that such a fine instrument deserved. Mom had said
that the guitar was to remain with them, but that granddaughter
could play it whenever she visited. This was supposedly understood.
Pre-teen granddaughter tried to abscond with it anyway, and there
was a bit of an altercation at the time when she tried to go out the
door with it. With the family troubles that followed this never got
properly resolved, and then Mom died. Dad vowed that granddaughter
would never see the thing again (he can hold a grudge in
the face of disrespect, and granddaughter can have quite a mouth on
her), and so it has come to live with us. (She'd outgrown it by
then, anyway.)
On a positive note (!) Daniel (age 7) seemed quite taken with it.
He hauled it around the house, carefully (he's quite a different
sort than his cousin), and played us a number of his own
compositions: Timber Termites, etc. It was very cute,
I think Dad was pleased, I know Mom sure would have been. It's nice
to have some positive associations with the thing. I tuned
it so that it at least played notes that sounded chord-like and
together (I don't know how to tune a guitar, and I didn't bother to
look in the book that came with it) before Daniel's 'concert'. That
helped a fair bit. Daniel was rhyming, some of the words were
rather clever, and he was even singing in tune with the strings.
Maybe a lesson or two and he'd know how to hold it, and what the
frets were for. I'm sorry Jill missed it.
In October of 2011 it went on loan to a neighbor who wanted to fool around with guitar for awhile. Daniel
certainly wasn't using it at the time. It stayed there a few months
and then came back.
Daniel, when faced with the choice of a band or orchestra instrument
for fifth grade (2012), chose the bassoon of all things.
We already had at least one of nearly everything else in the basement,
but he chose one of the few we didn't have, and nearly the
most expensive instrument possible. Fortunately a friend was
willing to loan us one of his that he wasn't using, so we're OK for
now. Daniel, in his first session with it, was able to
play Hot Cross Buns using his 'extensive' recorder
skills from elementary school. Cool.
The case was in tattered shape, so I glued the leather and cloth
covering back down with black weatherstrip cement. There was also a
bug-eaten pad that fell out of the long joint, and some loose screws
into the wood. A minor amount of TLC should put it right. A day
later and Jill had procured a replacement pad, so Daniel and I
installed it. I removed the key and used hot glue to tack in the
pad, then installed the key, reheated it, and seated it. It took
several tries before the joint sealed with all pads down, I used an
alcohol lamp for heating. I set Daniel to using the MAAS metal
polish on the caps and end rings, and it helped a lot. I polished
the bocal, and it came out very well. With a lot more elbow grease
the horn would look fairly decent. The bell ring, a yellowing
plastic, was cracked, so I sent Daniel on a hunt to find a
similar-colored piece of paper. We settled on a yellow envelope,
from which we tore a little chunk to slip into the crack. I dripped
cyanoacrylate glue in (with the tip of an old hypodermic needle) to
set it up, then used a razor blade to remove the excess. I think it
looks slightly better. A good next step might be to sand the repair
smooth, carefully, then paint the ring a better color. [The owner
does not agree.] We then assembled the horn and tried playing it,
we were able to make noise all right but neither of us is qualified
to pronounce on the current playability of the horn. The next day
Daniel had a private lesson, in order to prepare for school. (We're
on the hook for basic bassoon playing, the school's
teacher is not prepared to do that at this time,
and wouldn't allow him to play bassoon without private lessons.)
The private teacher tried the horn and said it
played, and that we'd "got a good one", though one key didn't work.
Daniel was prepared with basic assembly/disassembly, handling,
embouchure, and posture lessons. A day or two later and I used wood
glue as sizing to seal the chewed wood and leather of the case, and
once that was dry I got some black paint and painted over all the
damage to reduce its visibility. After that it actually looks
fairly decent, a lot better than it did anyway. I used MAAS to
shine up the buckles, too. While the MAAS was out I finished
shining the larger and more accessible parts of the bassoon, it
looks somewhat more presentable as a result. The joint latch was
already working loose again, so I used some wood glue and tiny
slivers of wood to fill the screw holes, then re-screwed it down.
That'll probably stop the loosening. While I was at it I oiled the
latch. Daniel has been having trouble assembling the joints, which
were indeed a bit stiff, so I cleaned off the grease and lightly
sanded the offending corks. I also used metal polish on the mating
metal sockets in the boot, and after all that and regreasing it is
much smoother to assemble. I used Leatherique on the leather pad
that the teacher noted might not be sealing correctly, we'll see if
that does anything. I can always replace it. I did note that one
of the pushrods that goes through the boot is missing, so the lowest
pad on the boot isn't fully operational. (There are two keys that
can operate it, this only affects one.) Interesting. The three
remaining pushrods are different, one is nylon, one is wood, and the
other is steel. They are approximately 2×56 mm. I dug
around in the scrap bucket and found a stiff power-tool flex cable,
perhaps a throttle cable, whose coiled wire was 1.8 mm in
diameter and which had a long straight end. (A long thin nail was
too fat for the bore.) I cut off a piece and tried to fit it into
position, and ended up with a rod 1.8×56.5 mm. It seems
to work well enough, though it could have been slightly longer. If
that's a problem it can be shimmed on the keywork, there are already
pads at both ends. At his teacher's suggestion I bent one of the
pinkie spatula keys to line up better with its mates, and cleaned
and lubricated the general area. (The rollers now work better.) I
glued on a bit of cork to a key post that pushes another key to
tighten up the action, and used Leatherique on some more pads.
We'll see if this was good to do, next time a 'pro' can check out
the horn. [The owner, upon his next visit, was able to play up and
down the horn, and thinks it's in a decent enough state of repair.]
Daniel's first fifth-grade concert
featured a bassoon 'solo' of sorts: A long bottom-note honk. The
main feature of the solo was the rubber glove tied over the end of
the bell and stuffed down into the bore, where it lurked. When the
bottom note played the glove popped out of the bell and waved.
(It's a bassoon thing.) The crowd got quite chuckle out of it.
A couple of years later and the case
was starting to look ratty again, Daniel's not all that careful
handling it, and it was getting all scraped up. Some of the
covering material had been lost. Anyway, I glued and painted it
again, so it is again presentable. I also had a talk with the
boy about using appropriate care...
Saturday, March 4, 2017 we noticed a missing cork bumper on one key,
resulting in too much travel and some clacking, and a barrel that
had been bent slightly interfering with one of the keys' full travel
that kept a pad from closing fully. A bit of bending and a cork
bumper carved out of a wine cork and we were back in business.
In 2018 this horn was retired in favor of the Fox.
It can be a spare.
Friday, March 8, 2019 it was pointed out to me that the plastic bell
ring was severely broken, and held on with cellophane tape. Daniel,
please tell us about such things! New rings are available from
Ferree's Tools, this is a 'non-standard' size, M49A, and so is $25
instead of $15, but that's not a big deal. The dimensions are:
A=47mm, B=54mm, C=74mm, and D=10mm. Their replacements are an
ivory-colored nylon, which is a very good/durable plastic. (The
original is clearly not nylon.) I called and ordered one.
A Conn Cornet turned up on
Craigslist, and when I went to look at it I also found this at the
same estate sale. It looked complete, and in decent enough shape
considering its age, so I made an offer on it
which was accepted.
I have no actual need of this, of course, but it's likely that it is
at least not worse than than Jill's tenor sax, and there's some slight
chance that Daniel might end up playing it in jazz band. It was
worth the gamble, usable (?) decent-quality tenor saxes are usually
never this cheap, and it can almost certainly be flipped for no loss
if things should work out that way.
The mouthpiece was seized onto the neck when I got it, and it really
didn't want to come off. A dousing of Kroil, though, and off she
popped. The neck cork is pretty compressed, there, but otherwise
looks good. I dusted the horn and treated all the pads with
Leatherique; they looked pretty good but I imagine were rather on
the hard side. I lubed the main upper axle rod, as there were some
sticky keys, but that didn't do it. I had to remove it and clean
out the bores. One key was still sticky, so I gently reamed the
bore with a #32 drill. I had to increase tension on a couple of
springs, but didn't manage to break anything or stab myself. After
that all the keys seemed to open and close properly. One of the
wire key guards was bent in enough to clank on opening, so I used a
wooden drift and a mallet to pound it somewhat back into position.
Shortly after I got it I used weatherstrip cement to stick down all
the tatters on the case that were coming loose, and I oiled the case
hardware. (One of the spring-loaded flip latches is missing.)
Thursday, August 13, 2015 I began cleaning the case, it had a
slightly musty, old cigarette smell that was moderately annoying,
and we wanted to use the case to temporarily hold the Indiana sax during its repad while I clean its
own, rather smellier, case. I began
by washing out the insides with dish soap and a bucket of warm
water. As the case is largely cardboard in construction, this is a
rather dicey proposition! It got pretty soft in the process. I
propped it open upside down out in the warm wind to dry, with a fan
under it (blowing through the open gridwork table top) to help.
After it dried the velour was very stiff, and a lot of the
interior was coming loose from its glue. To begin the restoration I
used yellow glue to stick the loose cardboard side back to the wood
bottom piece. I used contact cement to stick back the velour, and
cut a chunk off of the backside of one of the pillows to cover a
hole that was worn through in one place. I re-glued the mouthpiece
box, using splinters to tighten up the mounting screw holes. The
velour is still nasty and stiff, but a spray bottle of water and a
small bristle brush makes that better. (Spray on a bit of water,
and brush 'til dry.) The paper-product pillow materials were ruined
by the wash, they've turned into solid cardboard—hard.
The shop says that the body is
bent, and her estimate to make it playable would be about $100 or
so.
I bought this snare drum kit (used, but über-complete and in
near mint condition for $60 from one of our
charitable thrift shops) as something of a
joke, figuring we would not keep it but would gift it to my wife's
symphony which has lost their rehearsal space and the use of said
space's percussion, or my son's school, something like that. But my
wife, the anti-collector, thinks we should keep it for use in the
parade we've been participating in annually, of late.
Who knew! It came with case, stand, sticks, rubber practice pad,
and a head key. (Shown with the $5 brass bell I bought to perhaps
serve as a better 'Liberty bell' than the cast aluminum pan lid
we've been using.)
This turned up at a yard sale one Friday, when I enquired about
musical instruments. It wasn't ready to come out yet but they gave
me a peek anyway; I took a phone number, and I later made an
offer. They countered and seemed pretty firm at that
point. I picked it up the next Friday.
I have no actual need of this, as usual; see the Conn Tenor Sax, etc.
The horn seems in decent condition for its age, but needs a new neck
cork. There are a few dents, but nothing horrible. Lacquer and
case are in tolerable condition. Could use a thorough CLA. Besides
the three mouthpieces, it came with a nasty neck strap and a vintage
aluminum Maier "REEDGARD" reed press with three
broken reeds in it, and a very heavy brass neck plug. Also some
wadded up pep-band sheet music, a program from North Central HS
dated 1966, and a book of pop charts circa 1980.
The Brilhart Ebolin plastic 4*, serial 83510, is a Carlsbad model.
These can sell for close to what I paid for the entire package! The
Otto Link hard rubber Tone Edge 5* (Very Open) mouthpiece is a
Florida slant-signature model, the middle style of the three they
made. It has its original box, with its $20 price tag from David
Wexler & Co. "...and is still the most sought after rubber
version of the Otto Link mouthpiece" says one source. I've seen
these for sale for $7–800! It seems clear enough that these
two mouthpieces alone were worth the purchase.
I performed a minor CLA on it, especially oiling (Leatherique) the
hard brown leather pads. I also cleaned all three mouthpieces in
the ultrasonic cleaner, they were gross. I glued the neck cork back
on, and glued down some loose case leather. I adjusted the octave
key on the neck, and lubed that linkage as it was sluggish. We'll
see how it shapes up.
One of the left-hand palm keys had been slammed hard enough to dent
in the body a bit. I removed a nearby large pad and, working
through the hole, used some heavy smooth metal tools to push out the
dent. I then glued new cork to the key so that it looks and acts
right. The repair is not perfect, but it looks pretty good compared
to before.
Thursday, August 13, 2015 I was surprised at home by a call from the
shop regarding the rebuild she had
been quoted. I didn't even know she'd taken it in! Apparently the
horn piqued her interest. They'd quoted $400 to do a partial repad,
in part to eliminate the musty odor, but decided that it really
needed a full repad. This is usually $800, but she's a good
customer so they're willing to do it for $500, with resonator pads;
I told them OK. They are concerned, however, that the case is too
musty, which will bring back the odor. I'm going to try to de-stink
it before we consider a replacement case, I've had good luck with
that using ozone, etc. We'll use the case from the Conn to hold it while I work on the stinky case.
(This other case is only slightly musty, just a faint cigarette odor
really.) With that in mind I emptied that case and cleaned it.
Saturday, August 22, 2015 we picked the sax up from the shop. The
tech was really taken with it, and I think he
hopes to get some oboe lessons out of Jill. (Entirely fair, if you
ask me.) A full repad and CLA, with a $200 replacement
cordura gig bag, was only $450! He said that if she didn't want it,
he'd take it (to play) in an instant. Jill really wanted the new
case. I made my pitch for using the Conn case while I cleaned up
the Martin's own case, but it all fell on deaf ears. Jill played
the horn a bit, and thought it played well.
It turns out that this is the horn Jill has been taking with her
when she sits in with the Tuxedo Junction big
band. She's not tremendously fond of it, but nonetheless prefers it
to the Vito.
Daniel and I stopped into a pawn shop to see if they
had any movies we wanted to pick up cheaply, and they had this on
the counter, it looked new. I couldn't pass it up at $80 (versus
the current (at the time) $200
price for new), with case and 7C mouthpiece, so it followed us home.
Daniel had so much fun screwing with it that he begged to have it
listed in his section of this record. OK, son. I figured it's
already nearly paid for itself in entertainment value alone. It'll
probably never be more than a toy around the house, but that's OK
too. The slide was pretty scratchy, which is fairly normal for
these, but some cleaning with the snake helped that a lot.
While out browsing I ran into this
at an antique mall and
kept picking it up and putting it back. It was cheap, but
was missing the case, mouthpiece, water key, and counterweight.
Even so, it turns out I couldn't pass it up. While the slide bumper
was bashed in considerably there were no other dents and the slide
seemed smooth enough. Not sure what to do with this thing, but it's
a normal-bore trombone with a screw-lock bell and a slide lock, and
it takes a normal-sized mouthpiece shank, so it's a lot more practical
to fool around with than the Holton.
I lubed the slide and carved a cork to plug the drain hole and it
plays, using one of the many extra mouthpieces I laid in for the Bass Cornet. Whee. I dropped it off at the shop to have the water
key fixed. Later while digging in
the scrap drawer at Hoffman's looking for a cheap cornet
mouthpiece to throw into the ART Cornet's case
for resale purposes, I ran across a Conn counterweight. $5.
Once back from the shop it was
sporting a new water key, about $20. I also paid $10 for a ratty
old Besson case that was going to be discarded, and bought a set of
slide protector tubes for another $10. Total price for this horn,
ready to go (for pep band or drunken parties) is thus $85. The bow
of the slide is still caved in pretty bad, but she said
it really wouldn't matter on a horn like this one. Once I got it
home I lubricated things, and 'cured' the slide clanking with a
couple of O-rings. (Not ideal, but sufficient.)
Daniel was going to participate, on trombone of all things, in an
informal jazz band (organized by one of his friends),
so Wednesday, October 11, 2017 I got out the Gorilla glue, stripped
off the dead duct tape, and fixed the broken case. After the
structural gluing was done, the next day I used weatherstrip cement
to secure the loose skin flaps, two wood screws to reattach the
storage compartment's hinge block, and two clinched-over copper
upholstery nails to reattach the leather snap to the compartment lid
so that the mouthpiece can't get loose and bash the horn. It's a
lot more solid now, though with everything back in the right place
it only emphasizes the poor fit of a Conn in a Besson case. I lubed
the latches and wedged a couple of staples under them to help
compensate for the dead springs. Much better! (The horn was ready,
but the jazz band never really got going.)
Daniel decided to join the school pep band (basketball) for 2017,
and they aren't allowed to use the marching band instruments, which
are privately owned, so he's been using this trombone instead of his
(preferred, valved) marching baritone.
He's also been using it in the 2018 and 2019 pep bands.
This cornet had been on Craigslist for weeks, at a very low price.
Rumor had it that it was actually a rather nice model, for its time,
and so I finally called on it.
Still available, not bent, intact and complete except for
mouthpiece. It was cheap, so I went to see it.
Yeah, worth owning at that price. The intent is to play with it a
little bit, then flip it; I certainly don't need it. At home I
spent an evening with the boiling water and aluminum foil, and then
MAAS polish. It cleaned up nicely. The valves worked very well,
the slides were all smooth, and it played. Plenty of silver gone
off the edges, it looks like it was played a lot but generally well
cared for. There's a nice 'pop' on #1 slide, the valves don't even
look worn. There's a minor dent in the bell bow, it probably
doesn't need to be fixed. Then I made a mistake and tried to
straighten the slightly bent leadpipe. Oops! It cracked, and of
course no longer played. I will have to solder over the cracks, I
guess. I should have left well enough alone. Later I dropped it off at the shop to have some
patches put on... It came back after
a while, $40 to fix my mistake. There goes the ol' profit margin;
lesson! The case was in pretty good shape. Somebody had done a
very careful job of lining all the fraying edges with a stiff blue
plastic tape, which they had then painted black. It probably had
looked pretty sharp when they were done. Unfortunately the adhesive
on the tape was letting go, and the tape was cracking and peeling.
I removed all of it, glued down the fraying fabric edges that were
underneath, and painted the entire case black, blue plastic handle
and all. At the shop I picked up a cheap cornet mouthpiece, a
Jet-Tone 1M wallflower for $10 that I intended to throw into the
case for 'curb appeal'. NOS and beautiful after I polished it, but
it's horrible! Feels like a bucket, it's so huge;
completely inappropriate for a beginner, or maybe anybody,
so I ordered a no-name $9 5C cornet mouthpiece for it off the
internet instead.
Once I had some time I played it a bit, rehearsing some pieces I was
going to play later and using a mouthpiece of my preferred size that
was not going with the horn. After awhile I decided that
while it was rather cute and indeed worked fine, it was in no way
the best old cornet I had, nor even the best looking. It's
definitely time to move it on, ideally to a beginner of small
stature, or a collector of some sort.
Images:
Once I got the mouthpiece and had a chance to clean the horn again
and photograph it, I finally put it on Craigslist, and while I was at it I posted its availability to TPIN
and Trumpet Master, just in case one of those guys wanted it. I
don't think the ad was up an hour before it had sold, through TPIN.
Wow. It's to be used by a four-year-old.
I was in an experimental/reckless mood one day, so I
ordered one of those nasty 4-valve Indian piccs
Friday, November 11, 2016. I figured, for under $100
(US, shipped from Meerut, India; declared value $40), just how bad
could it actually be? It came Thursday, November 17, 2016. Here's
a mini review:
For the record, every picc I try is flat for me, slide all the way
in. It's a personal problem. I don't think they sound all that
bad, they're just.... flat. For me. This one far worse than most.
This trumpet was at the antique mall, in
pretty nice condition and in an unusual rounded-corner case.
Somebody had absconded with two of the valve buttons by the second
time I'd looked at it, and had apparently tried to take the third
but it had come unscrewed from the valve down inside instead and was
trapped, loose and rattling, on the horn. The horn was already
attractively priced, but they accepted my lesser
offer due to the missing
parts. The intent is to play with it a little bit, then flip it; I
certainly don't need it. A rescue? It was the nice case that
sealed the deal. Round corners, and a strange swirly pattern fabric
covering, not torn or stained, with key. Valves were sluggish but
responded to oil, all slides moved easily.
At the time of production the regular Cleveland was their basic
student-grade horn, the Superior was the step up, or intermediate
grade. (Horns marked King [by H.N. White] were the top of the
line.) After the H.N. White company was sold this horn remained in
production and became known as the King 600, one of
which I had for a time.
I later bought a bag of Benge
trumpet parts, and in it were three new buttons for a Benge 65B.
(Marked P50-SP4015-2, $8/ea.) All-metal, silver, with slightly
dished tops. They fit on this horn, and work nicely. Not the
correct vintage style, of course, but entirely adequate. Since I
didn't need the buttons for anything, they're perfectly welcome to
go onto this horn, at least temporarily.
Friday, May 25, 2018 the shop called, and
said some stuff was ready. Part of this was two more matching
original-style valve buttons, so now there's a set of originals back
on the horn. I should really sell this...
Images:
This turned up on Craigslist, damaged
but at an extremely attractive price. I couldn't pass it
up, I'm told these are very good trombones. Certainly the bell is
in excellent condition. One of the slide tubes is badly damaged,
inside and out, my tech says it'll have to be replaced. The correct
micro-fluted slide tubes are NLA, so the replacement will have to be
smooth. Estimated repair would be about $200. The bell is in
excellent condition. I've seen similar horns, with damaged slides,
sell for $400. Were the slide not damaged this one would sell for
even more. The serial number is on the slide, there is a simple
"84" stamped where the bell joins the slide. Not sure what that
means.
Sale images:
I didn't even bring it home, I dropped it directly at the shop.
After repairs the horn should easily be worth twice my investment,
for what is reputedly a very nice trombone. For me, if I should
want to learn the slide? For Daniel, if he's in pep band and wants
to mess with a slide? For resale? For donation? The possibilities
are endless!
Bought for $25 at the junque shoppe, bell beat up but otherwise
functional. (A testament to the build quality of Olds? I bought it
to give to my brother, as an "At least you have a trumpet"
consolation prize, but he was monumentally uninterested.) Not sure
what to do with it, it's been riding around in the camper, wrapped
in a towel in a closet. Daniel found it out there, asked me "what's
wrong with that trumpet?" Well son, nothing, it's just beat-up, but
still a decent horn. "Well then I suck on trumpet!" :-)
At a family gathering one summer a blind jazz musician friend of a
relative picked it up and noodled on it awhile. It worked fine.
After the success of the Soprano Trombone I
started keeping an eye out for the piccolo variation at a good price,
but they weren't really available. (Such things come and go in the
market.) Eventually one turned up at a good-enough price ($200), so
I bit. Saturday, July 15, 2017 it came. Cute little thing, nice
slide. Unmarked mouthpiece, a hard case, white gloves, and a wooden
presentation stand. The smaller bore means that some of my more
interesting project ideas, which prompted this purchase in the first
place, will be more difficult. (Actually the bore isn't
really smaller, it's just that the wall thicknesses among these
instruments varies so wildly the bore might as well be different.)
This instrument says Germany on it, as does the bottle of valve oil
that came with it, but I find it hard to believe the Germans can
make this at this price point. It's almost a mystery! (The packing
carton, though, was quite clear about China's prominent role in
things.) The serial number is quite small for this unit, it's
possible that they're just match numbers for both halves of the
slide. (Both parts bear the number.)
At the Christmas party in 2018 the slide was dropped on the floor.
Carpeted, so no harm seems to have been done, but I think we'll
tether the slide for next time.
Daniel's bassoon teacher has been stating
that the Linton bassoon was starting to hold
him back. We'd been sporadically searching for a replacement, but
they're not cheap nor particularly available. We were lax, and
nothing jumped out at us. Eventually our 'bassoonifactor' allowed
as he was probably done playing for the forseeable, and that it's
better to have his nice wooden instrument played than to have it sit
idle in a closet. So, our way also it came. It is likely that this
horn will last us as long as Daniel is likely to play, unless he
goes into a community band or orchestra after he's done with school,
or the owner wants it back sooner than we think.
The case is tired, some interior pieces have broken and/or broken
loose, the lid tether is torn, and it looks like a piece or two
might be missing. The main problem is that the two main joints just
lie against each other, so there are T-shirts in there to pad
things. That simply can't be right! I began gluing things back
together. I think Jill was around when/where this instrument was
new, and said that there was a top padded cloth piece that was meant
to lie between the joints, which is now missing. Yeah, I can
believe that.
Before he moved to Baltimore in 2024 Daniel played second bassoon in
the CdA Symphony for a couple years using this horn.
This looked cheap and fun, and promised to have an ultra-small
mouthpiece, which tipped me over the 'buy' threshold. It was
back-ordered for months, since June 23,
and finally arrived Monday, November 12, 2018, and was about $115.
I got blue, it's much less hard on the eyes than the red option.
The mouthpiece, though small, is still not as small as my favorite,
so I guess I'll have to keep looking for another source for that.
This was a Christmas (2018) present from my wife, she bought it
locally. (Probably overpaid somewhat, but not too
badly.) It's black, which makes it not too hard on the eyes,
unlike some of them. It seems fairly solidly constructed, but it
plays terribly, sounds like it leaks somewhere. I took it with me
in January when I had to wait for Jill at the airport, I figured I
could do some chop maintenance in the car at night while I waited,
and it's plastic so the cold environment wouldn't be a big issue.
So far I'm not fond of it. I corked the bell with a rubber ball and
plunged it into a sink full of water, and blew into it. Rather
surprisingly, the precarious looking water key was not a problem at
all. As I feared, though, the valves leaked pretty substantially,
primarily out the bottom. I wonder if valve oil would help? It's
not supposed to need it, and the very broad valve surfaces might
drag badly if oiled. I guess it can be cleaned off, though, if it
turns out to be a mistake.
I had some Hetman's #3 synthetic valve oil, the thicker stuff for
worn valves, which I applied after the horn had dried. It made
an immense improvement, and didn't seem to drag any. I
would say it's now a playable instrument, though still far below
even the most basic instrument made of brass.
I was visiting a new-to-me pawn shop in Vancouver and
found this. (They had just the day before sold the Benge CG in
their Craigslist ad that had originally drawn my attention, in the
$4–500 range; bummer.) This Strad looked well-used, but cared
for, but was beginning to tarnish significantly and had some stuck
slides; I imagine it had been played heavily but then set aside for
some time. The valves were very smooth, though.
A bandmate of my son had been looking for a horn
to take to college, he'd been using his mother's
Strad for high school but she wasn't about to let it leave with him.
They'd been looking for a horn for him, but on a budget since he
wasn't going to be a music major. This horn, with tax, was $600,
which put it in the nice-but-not-great price range. I figured if
they didn't want it, I did, having no experience with Strads but
having heard nothing but good about them, so I bought it. I figured
in the worst case I could flip it for a tiny profit, but I'd
probably keep it if they didn't want it.
At home I freed most of the slides, except for that pesky second
knuckle, cleaned it out, and polished it while watching TV. It
shined up nicely. I decided that the flimsy first-slide thumb
saddle was some kind of hack repair job, because I found the horn's
original (and much sturdier) saddle wedged into a crevice in the
case. My guess is that it'd fallen off and they'd put it in the
case for safe keeping, but couldn't find it later and so had this
wretched aftermarket thing put on instead. The pearls on the valve
buttons are worn significantly, due to heavy use I imagine. I've
never seen that before. This supports the belief that this is a
good horn, because a bad one simply wouldn't have gotten played that
much.
It seems to play well, but needs:
None of this should be expensive.
I took the horn to a band rehearsal, and played it instead of my
regular horn. Nice! Also a bit on
the bright side, but that's a 37 for you. I would not be unhappy if
this were the only horn I had to play, but I don't expect to have it
with me for long.
I picked it up periodically over a few weeks, trying it out and
contrasting it with my Benge 3
and Benge 5. This is a
nice horn! (They all are!)
Saturday, May 18, 2019 the college-bound kid and
his Mom came to see the horn, and liked it.
(They really liked the valve action, as do I.) I sold it
to them for the $600 I'd paid for it, as planned. I'm kind of going
to miss this horn, but I honestly have too many horns as it is.
They're planning to drop by the shop on their way home, see what it
would take to fix its minor issues.
(Monday, May 27, 2019 they got the horn back from the
shop. $130 to put everything right,
including freeing the third-valve dump slide which I didn't even
know was there, and they are well pleased with the horn.)
As the whole famn damily seems to want to participate in Tuba
Christmas, yet nobody wants to play an actual tuba and we only had
two euphonia, it seemed prudent to procure a third, when and if a
good deal on a suitable horn came along. Enter this one on
Craigslist, Wednesday, June 26, 2019:
The horn looked good, and is ex-WSU. It is 'convertible', and looks
like it is intended to be a normal lap-held horn, but with an option
for a very awkward shoulder-mount configuration for marching, using
an alternate leadpipe. The second valve slide is frozen and its
valve cap was stuck, and the valves were sluggish. My 'magic stick'
freed the #2 cap, and I cleaned and lubed the valves. They work
well. The horn looks great, except for some hefty dents in the one
big branch. They don't seem debilitating, though. The included
mouthpiece was a Bach 5, and it seems there were two
alternate leadpipes (for the marching configuration) included in the
case. (Probably a mistake, and one of the other [ex-]WSU horns is
now missing its alternate leadpipe.)
Sale images:
All in all it looks to be an excellent purchase, at a very good
price. (I've seen them asking $1,200 retail for a used horn of this
exact type.) It seems to play a nice in-tune scale. Besides the
oiling, I used a tapered drift to remove some denting in the shank
of the mouthpiece where it had been dropped. It seems to be fully
ready to play.
August 2019: Jill has already managed to loan it out. Twice.
On Bagpipe Day I bought both these
and Jill's, off of Craigslist.
(Separate sellers.) The seller knew little about them and was selling
them for a friend, for $50. They are no-name junk, but looked
mostly there, except for the plastic end cap of the (wooden)
chanter. The bag is a stiff sewn leather, inside a faded and dusty
tartan sleeve. I basically intended these to be a joke, to
accompany Jill's nice set at Christmas (2019).
The leather flapper valve on the blowpipe was all crinkled and
stiff, and wouldn't seal, so I hit it with a dab of Leatherique to
soften it up. (I couldn't find my neatsfoot oil bottle.) That and
some weight to flatten it out seems to have helped. It's missing
one tenor drone reed. The drone reeds are aluminum, with carbon
fiber tongues and rubber O-rings to hold the tongues on to the reed
bodies. I ordered another, similar one from Dulcimer Shofar, about
$14 with shipping. Another $10, and I had a thrift-shop carrying
bag for the pipes. I found the neatsfoot oil the next day, and
liberated the bag to oil it. The missing drone reed was down inside
the bag; Doh! The leather bag is not nasty, musty, or torn. In
fact it appears to be in reasonable shape. They may be cheap, but I
don't think they were built to be garbage.
This turned up on eBay, fairly cheap but straight and with poor finish.
It came with nothing, but was only about $80.
Listing text:
Listing images:
I have no actual need of this, of course, I was thinking it could
perhaps combine with the other 17A
to make one better horn, leaving enough for a second horn to pass
on. Or not. The low price and lack of actual bell damage was the
deciding factor.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 it came, and looked as advertised. All
it needs is some cleaning, three correct valve buttons, and felts.
The bell is slightly bent, but nothing bad. It might be too good to
part out.
Saturday, March 9, 2024 I was tired of looking at it and finally
tackled it, and it cleaned up pretty well. I had to use my
grenadilla 'rapping stick' to release the valve caps. The valves
worked smoothly after oiling, but #3 was missing a button. I cut
the brass end off of a 28ga shotgun shell, which is just about the
right size, and soldered a screw to it to make a button. I found a
ratty used felt to put under it, which is better than nothing. It
actually works surprisingly well, and doesn't even look that bad. I
used a piece of shell brass to punch out a circle of sheet cork to
glue in place of the one missing pearl, so now
that button's better too. The
entire horn is now decent looking and
fully functional.
I found this on Craigslist, and it was there for over a week before
I bought it. The only picture was quite
bad, but it looked like it might have a copper bell, so I
went to see it. (When I called the seller did not know if it was
copper or not. I was not interested unless it was copper, but I
decided to risk a trip in to town to see it.) It was in
decent-enough condition, some scratches and scuffs and lacquer wear,
but no significant dents or dings. It was cheap enough,
and had the copper bell to match my old
trumpet. It came with a well-worn vinyl-covered Pan-American
case that doesn't want to stay shut, Roth mouthpiece, and
counterweight. The slide seemed smooth enough, considering it was
unlubricated. Looked complete and ready to play, after cleaning and
lubrication.
The Conn Loyalist's site claims that all 18H trombones have
7½" bells, and that the 7" coprion bell indicates a
12H. I suppose there's an outside chance that the bell and slide
are a marriage, but the standard Director 'Marching Men' are
engraved on the bell, and elsewhere on the site Conn apparently
claimed the smaller bells for the earlier production models, so I
believe it to be an early 18H. The seller was an older gent who said he got it through
the DVA (Disabled Veterans of America), to sell. (In fact I'd
bought the cheap bagpipes from him 3½
years ago.) Under the circumstances, I was disinclined to dicker.
Supposedly this is exactly like the other Conn
Director trombone, except with the coprion bell.
Craigslist description:
Sale image:
For Sale Sold!
A King Cleveland 600 from that vintage is a great deal @$50.00. That
was my first horn, and I used it through college (for marching only)
until it was stolen. (I marched with my Bach afterward). They were
solidly built, played in tune and had a pretty easy blow. In fact,
most of the folks who I grew up with played Kings as their beginning
horn. The 7C mouthpiece was standard.
Actually, I'd just strip off what remains of the lacquer and acquire
the taste for raw brass instruments. It's cheaper, doesn't affect the
playing any, and people grow into finding it cool looking. Makes any
subsequent repairs or modifications easy because you don't have to
worry about lacquer.
For Sale Sold!
Right side
Engraving
Bell
Buttons
Serial
Dent 1
Dent 2
Valves
Slides
Case Ext.
Case Int.
Case Storage
I haven't decided what to do with it. Loaner? It may just sit
there as a house toy, waiting for the rare occasions when the party
is starting to get a bit likkered up. Horns might come out then,
but never any of the good ones. Or, I could chuck the cheap-ass
leadpipe into a metal lathe and see if I can't take 1/2 step out of
it...
As bought
Right side
Top
Left side
Bottom
Bell
Serial
Latches
Case
Case badge
Mouthpiece
In case, 1
Slide damage
In case, 2
Engraving
For Sale Sold!
Yamaha Euphonium. Hard case and mouthpiece included. Some common,
non-critical, dents. $450.00.
I spent a few microseconds looking at the ad, and called on it. It
was silver, which I like, a reputable brand, and looked fairly new
and in fairly good overall condition. The PO was an ex-tuba-player,
and had bought it (in Pullman) because he missed playing tuba.
After messing with it, he still missed playing tuba, and
decided to sell it and perhaps try again. I negotiated him to $425,
and we arranged to meet. (When we met I pointed him at the two
community bands, and mentioned the annual Tuba Christmas event.)
Front
Facing left
Facing up
Valves
Left, in case
Left, in case 2
Left, in case 3
Case
Vintage Conn Shooting Stars Director Cornet. Has some discoloration
and corrosion, but all valves and slides move as they should. Many
dings and dents throughout, missing the key for one valve. Instrument
ONLY, NO Case, NO Mouthpiece.
Right
Left
Bell bow
Left flare
Right flare
Leadpipe
Engraving
Buttons
Bow quarter
Bell quarter
old trombone with case, $100.00 or best offer
In case
