Posts made by Dale Proctor

@flugelgirl said in First Horns:

I started on a Cleveland cornet exactly like that! It plays like a sewer pipe, and is currently in my home shop waiting to become a lamp. I kept it all these years just so some other poor kid wouldn’t get stuck with it! My replacement for it was a 1960 Benge 3X that my first private teacher sold us for less than it was worth because he didn’t want me to play that cornet any more. I don’t own that horn anymore, but played it from 7th grade through most of college! Wish I still had it - he had bought it from Bobby Shew when they were playing together in Las Vegas.

Lol..that’s exactly how I’ve described it in the past. When my nephew (and godson) was going to begin band in middle school, my brother was going to let him use the Cleveland cornet. I told him not to, that I would give him a better one I already owned. It was a really nice, good-playing Conn Director cornet, still a student instrument, but a much better one. He had already started band when I gave it to him, and he played it a bit and said “I like this one a lot better”. Even a beginner could tell the difference...

My first horn was new King Cleveland cornet, around 1962. At the time I didn’t know any better, but it was a stuffy, hard to play instrument that was sold with a too-small mouthpiece. I’m fortunate that it didn’t discourage me from continuing to play. I was stuck with it for four years, and then got a used Conn 6B Victor trumpet, handing the cornet down to my younger brother. He did the same, and my youngest brother ended up with it. He still has it, so I’ve been able to play it again in recent years. What a terrible instrument!

For reference, here’s a pic of one exactly like it, same case too.

1960 6B Victor, original lacquer. Great instrument, just like the one I had in high school. Basically a Connstellation without the trigger and nickel plated bell.

I like the green Schlossberg book for flexibility studies.

@Kehaulani
That’s pretty tempting, but I’ll pass for now...lol

Okay, time for all you Conn fans to show and tell about the great Conn trumpets, cornets, and/or flugelhorns you own, used to own, or played.

I’ll get it started with my favorite one, a 1962 Conn 9A Victor cornet. Pretty to look at, plays beautifully. Coprion bell and leadpipe, huge .484” bore. They were made only a couple years, so they are pretty rare, especially in this condition.

@Shifty said in Getzen Club:

My 1959 Connstellation 28A was built before they started adding slide stops, and I wished it had a Getzen style stop. Others talk about using a string, which is decidedly NOT elegant. I use two zip ties -- one on the third slide and one on the tube exiting the main tuning slide, with heads positioned to interfere. Just rotate one to remove the slide. Call it semi-elegant

I have a 1960 Conn 6B Victor, and I secure the 3rd valve slide with a black elastic pony tail holder looped around the brace between the lower tuning slide and 3rd valve receivers, with both ends slipped over the finger ring screw. It holds the slide in, but has enough stretch to easily move the slide for intonation help. It has the added bonus of helping return the slide...lol

@Curlydoc said in What is this Conn? Should I purchase?:

Does the extra tuning slide lower the pitch, an by how much?

On the 22B, the tuning slide with the rotary valve places the horn in the key of A when the valve is turned one way, and in Bb when turned the other way.

I’m a moderator on another site (nothing to do with trumpets) and we generally let silliness go, but name-calling and vulgar posts are deleted. Very much of that from the same person results in permanent removal. Same goes for people who want to do nothing but argue and are childish and arrogant.

I became involved in one of the recent disagreements here and was berated repeatedly even after trying to keep the discussion friendly. People who know it all and have a chip on their shoulder can be hard to deal with. Hey, I know that I don’t know it all, but I know what I know...

As for the instruments I own, “the one” is my 1962 Conn 9A Victor cornet. I looked for a nice one of these for years and finally found one. Beautiful sound, easy upper register, a powerful instrument. Huge .484” bore, Coprion bell and leadpipe, was made only a couple years.

@GeorgeB said in What is this Conn? Should I purchase?:

@Dale-Proctor

Whatever model it is, to me it looks like a WW1 relic...

Here’s the nice one I recently sold. A 1929 model, sold it locally for $350. The buyer said he planned on offering me less, but after seeing It and playing it, he paid me the full price.

I don’t have the slightest idea...lol

My guess is also that it’s a 22B. There are other Conn trumpets from that era that look the same and have different bore sizes, but the 22B is far more common than the others. I’ve had 3 of them, two from the ‘20s like that one, and one from the ‘60s. The ‘25 was my favorite, but was really ugly. The ‘29 was very pretty, but didn’t play quite as well, and the ‘68 was raw brass and was a much brighter trumpet. If you’re interested in it, $100 isn’t too much of a risk to take.

@Shifty
Family coat of arms from across the pond.

Poor old Bob Pixley. Reaching for those grapes that were too high. I notice a “Banned banner” next to someone’s name now, though, and Bob’s not coming back either.

That’s a sad situation all the way around.