Conn.Coprion student ? trumpet.

Anthony Lenzo

Any one own a Conn.Coprion trumpet Director model ? How do you like it is it a good trumpet .I use mine on alternate practice days it seems to get into the upper registers.I picked one up at a garage sale for 90 dollars.Any comments much appreciated.Anthony

administrator

I've had a couple. They aren't bad but certainly not professional level trumpets.

Dale Proctor

I had one and wasn’t very impressed. In my opinion, the cornet version (17A) is a better instrument.

Anthony Lenzo

@administrator yes I know this was a student level I got it for 90 bucks figuring I would use it as a practice trumpet once in awhile.Thanks

Gendreauj

One of my first trumpets was a Conn Coprion. Loved the color of the trumpet. Good student horn for the time and built like a tank.
Would love to find a copper professional horn.

Dale Proctor

@Gendreauj said in Conn.Coprion student ? trumpet.:

One of my first trumpets was a Conn Coprion. Loved the color of the trumpet. Good student horn for the time and built like a tank.
Would love to find a copper professional horn.

Conn made a few, like the 10B Artist trumpet and the 9A Victor cornet. I have a 1962 Conn 9A cornet and it’s a great instrument.

Gendreauj

Dale you do have an eye for beautiful horns. Do love the Conn and Getzen horns. I have a long way to go until I feel confident in my abilities to buy another cornet.

LegendaryConnMan

I have a couple of Conn 17B Director trumpets, and I also have one 17A Director cornet (all with coprion bells, and all made in the 1960s.) Those are excellent instruments. They were marketed as student instruments by Conn, but they play as well as any of the so-called "professional" models that Conn made during that time. It is said that, prior to 1970, the C.G. Conn company didn't make any student instruments, and that all of their instruments were of the highest, professional level quality.

The smaller .438" bore of these vintage Conn trumpets (like the 17B) make it a bit easier to get up into the upper register (especially with the right mouthpiece), and also make it easier to play longer without getting tired. The coprion bell on the trumpet makes the sound more focused and laser-like (less spread than the yellow brass bell of the 15B director), and therefore makes the 17B sound more like a typical C trumpet (in my opinion), even though it is in the key of Bb.

The coprion bell on the Conn 17A cornet gives that horn a bit of a warmer, darker sound (very nice and desirable for a cornet to have), which is a result of not only the copper (coprion) bell, but this also has to do with the different bore size, which is also more of a conical bore (as you would expect from a cornet.)

I have a collection of several vintage Conn trumpets (1920s through 1960s, mostly and one from 1978), several different models of these, all with the same .438" bore (a.k.a. Conn #1 bore), and the Conn directors that were made in the 1960s are among my favorites. I personally prefer the 17B (coprion bell) Director for classical gigs and sometimes for jazz soloing, and I prefer the Conn 15B (yellow brass bell) Director trumpet for playing lead trumpet in big bands and similar commercial music.

So yes, it's a great horn! You scored an excellent garage sale find, for sure.

administrator

They're very pretty horns and a neat design. Very unique for its era. I think they look much better than they play.

Trumpetb

I would not write it off

I have found the worst instrument can play wonderfully and sound professional with the right mouthpiece and the right player who plays in the right way.

Our tones are malleable if we are capable of it.

Even the cheapest Chinese knockoff wall hanger can sound beautiful and play well in the hands of the right player with the right mouthpiece.

Even the very best professional instrument can be condemned as worthless in the hands of the wrong player.

Our job is to adapt and conform to the instrument we use. It is not to spend our time seeking the one and only instrument that we can play well.

We are in control of our embouchure we are in control of our air support we are in control of our chops we are in control of our mouthpiece choice.

There is not one embouchure there is not one mouthpiece there is not one instrument there is not one approach to playing.

I would take this instrument and play it professionally in a heartbeat without even having held one. I hold Conn in such high regard

I once handed a cheap Chinese instrument to an older gigging professional, this instrument had been condemned as incapable of playing in tune or even playing well. I found no problem with it.

He handed it back after wowing an audience and receiving standing ovations with this supposed piece of chinese sh1t saying to do not ever sell this instrument.

It had the right mouthpiece and it was played by the right player, and it sounded fabulous.

Often it is the valves that let an instrument down, the valves are the heart of the instrument.

In my experience conn valves are among the finest valves.

Valves are let down by poor maintenance.

All of my instruments have great valves and they are all between 65 and 100 years old.

Maintain the valves well clean the instrument use the right mouthpiece adapt to the instrument, and it will repay you a thousand fold for your efforts.

When a player points a finger at an instrument and says that is crap, he or she is pointing three fingers back at themselves.

Anthony Lenzo

@LegendaryConnMan Yes thank you.My wife even likes the color of the Coprion too.

ROWUK

With any vintage instrument it is a question of the true condition, how hard it was played previously and if it gets past these mechanical checks, if we can get the sound that we need.

Granted, there are people that get the warm fuzzies every time the word vintage falls. There it does NOT matter what a reality check is worth.

I would say that about half of the vintage instruments that I have ever played were not worth my time or effort. Pitch, intonation, valves and tone were simply not up to snuff. I have a lot of old instruments but they are ALL PLAYERS.

I do not consider the coprion bells to be special in any way except to the marketing departments. There are simply too many truly sensational instruments based on "standard techniques".

Gendreauj

I have owned many vintage student horns including a Conn Director Coprion trumpet.
Many of the non professional horns were not taken care of by band students. Never did find the mythical unicorn student horn.
The vintage student horns drastically limited my playing enjoyment.
Yes I regret not buying a professional horn sooner.
Once I bought a professional horn noticed the drastic improvements in sound quality, intonation, projection etc.
Since my comeback I play modern day professional doubler cornets.
One of my cornets is copper colored and the other silver.