TromboneChat

I came across this, the serial number they listed on a Conn list dates it to 1912.

The bell engraving is beautiful.

Do these old horns play well, or are they mostly collectors pieces?

What's a decent price for something like this (assuming it hasn't been cleaned in a half century, lol... And do modern mouthpieces still fit?)

May not be "modern pitch" (A = 440 Hz).

Low Pitch is a little below modern pitch. It may be necessary to shorten the tuning slide 5 mm or so.

These instruments often took a somewhat smaller than modern small shank. Don't expect to find large versions of these mouthpieces; most of the ones I have are smaller than a 12C. I'm pretty sure Doug Elliott can make a shank to fit, but do you want to pay as much for the mouthpiece as the horn?

These instruments have very small bores and will have problems blending with modern instruments. Probably OK for a group with a single trombone, though.

Biggest problem with friction fit trombones is their tendency to come apart at the worst times; especially with mute changes.

The engraving is beautiful, though.

Thanks for the info - knowing the challenges that would come from trying to play it in a group makes sense why they aren't super sought after. I didn't see any with two-tone engraving quite like this one when looking, but generally the older ones like this seemed to be under a couple hundred bucks.

If anyone is in the Albany, NY area and wants to go snag it and make a project out of it - it's up on Facebook marketplace with a pretty cool looking leather case for $125.

I'm guessing it'd be hard to actually steal the bell and get it to match up with the look of modern brass (I think I read old trombones from the early 1900's are basically chrome-plated because they didn't have lacquer then? and the chrome process is super environmentally-not-great so isn't used anymore, so it would probably look weird even next to silver)

Not chrome, silver plate

Might play quite well on its own terms, but the chances of the slide being good enough that you'd actually want to do so...

Most new brass instruments were factory silver plated in those early days. The lacquers of the time were nowhere near as durable as modern epoxy lacquer, and it was intended only to keep the horn nice and shiny up to the point of sale.
After the lacquer was gone, if the owner still wanted a shiny horn they had to use brass polish.

I have one identical to this from the next year (except with the tuning slide brace that's missing here), which is the size that became the 2H. It's very small by modern standards so not super desirable, but not entirely out of place or unusable either. Used it in big band along someone playing a 4H, that worked plenty well. In my experience they play bigger than their size.

Slide action can be good despite the lack of chrome, if the slide as been well taken care off and is well adjusted. That's a big if of course.

Receiver should take a modern small shank no problem.

Pitch should not be an issue, "Low Pitch" was a=439Hz (as opposed to a "high pitch" north of 450Hz) so the difference should be negligible. I still have to pull my tuning slide on mine, just a bit ess than on other instruments.

I’ve never had a friction fit horn come apart. Its because the taper is made correctly. I think screw bells at the slide came into being because of an accepted lack of quality control. How many of you have had problems with threads? I’d say if you are looking for these type horns, look for larger bore horns and they are out there.

timbone wrote: ↑Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:38 pm I’ve never had a friction fit horn come apart. Its because the taper is made correctly. I think screw bells at the slide came into being because of an accepted lack of quality control. How many of you have had problems with threads? I’d say if you are looking for these type horns, look for larger bore horns and they are out there.

I had had a problem with a friction fit trombone coming apart, but it was caused by needing to insert and remove mutes frequently.

There is a humorous show of a friction fit trombone coming apart during a parade in the movie "Brassed Off".