I'm only going to be able to finish a part of this, tonight. And I threatened that I'd post it, so heeeere it is.
I owned:
* A very early 1920's (no pearl keys) stencil alto. Silver plate. White kid pads, but they all sealed. Someone gave it to me.
* A mid-1920's C melody stencil. Silver plate. C melody mouthpiece. White kid pads, but they all sealed. I believe I bought this for $50.
* A mid-1920's tenor. Bare brass. I had this horn *restored* by a really good tech. I believe I bought this for $300. Sounds about right. Overhaul was more than the horn.
I played, for a considerable amount of time:
* A mid-1920's baritone. Bare brass. In sad visual shape, but allegedly good pads. Hey, some of the keywork wasn't even original and a couple toneholes were corked to improve intonation.
I played, for a couple weeks:
* A late 1920's bass. Silver plate. Good pads, but I could grant that it may have been a little out of adjustment. However, it was a college horn and they did have techs there.
My mouthpieces were Raschers. The bass mouthpiece, which was broken, was actually slightly smaller than the Rascher bari 'piece, so I used the Rascher. However, I don't think the bass 'piece that was broken was original: no Conn logo. My reed of choice, on all pitches, was a 3.5 Vandoren.
So. Those are the horns and my setup.
They sucked.
==============
More specifically, here are the problems I had:
* Intonation on all the instruments was very iffy. This ranged from mild (the C melody) to ridiculous (the bass). The bass was so bad, I used false fingerings for the majority of what I played: I couldn't adjust my embochure fast enough. (I have heard, in the past, that it's pretty darn common to use false fingerings on basses.) On all my horns, I had the Eb vent intact and it worked. However, I also tried disabling the vent to improve intonation and there was no real difference. Hey, I might need that fork Eb fingering some day, y'know.
* Tone was very diffuse on the tenor, bari and bass. Loud, yes. But diffuse. I felt that, when I played, the actual note traveled about 3" and all the rest was muddy noise. The alto ... sounded like an alto. I fairly liked the overall tone of the C melody, but, seriously, I didn't use it all that much. No real need. (I used it a couple times in church for extra color.)
* The keywork was not ergonomic. That's almost a given, on horns this old, but it also felt sluggish. The Bundy II alto I had was better. Even the G# cluster.
* Of course, you also have no articulated G# on any of these old horns. That's the design, not really the fault of the horn. Something to keep in mind if you're considering one, tho!
* Even with the overhauled tenor, I had to throw a (plastic) mouthpiece cap in the bell to stop the gurgleling on the bell keys.
* Very hard to control dynamic contrast on any of these horns. The volume was "loud" or "louder" -- if you wanted the horns to speak, that is.
Admittedly, I don't remember the horns being very resistant, but I remember some difficulties with anything above high G coming out clearly or easily -- on any of the horns. No problems with my other instruments I owned (Bundy alto, Keilwerth-made Bundy bari, etc.). I can search for another good point, too: they were built like tanks. While I take fairly good care of my horns, I had a lot of 'em and they get "use marks". I don't remember ever damaging any of these Conns -- dents, dings, bends or whatever. The alto had a bell that was "pre-dinged", before I got it, but no significant damage after that. I don't even remember that ugly bari having any dents.
So, after I got rid of my Conns, I hated all things Conn for years -- although I admitted some were quite pretty -- until I tried a 30M. THAT'S a good horn. I'd recommend staying away from the New Wonders and earlier. Heck, stay away from 1920's-era horns, period. There are newer horns that have better ergonomics, keywork, intonation and tone for the same cash or less -- like a Buffet Dynaction or a Keilwerth New King (or NK stencil). And I thought my Keilwerth Bundy bari was pretty rugged.
So, what happened to my tenor? I traded it in and cash to get a YBS-52. The C melody was donated to a charity.
I owned:
* A very early 1920's (no pearl keys) stencil alto. Silver plate. White kid pads, but they all sealed. Someone gave it to me.
* A mid-1920's C melody stencil. Silver plate. C melody mouthpiece. White kid pads, but they all sealed. I believe I bought this for $50.
* A mid-1920's tenor. Bare brass. I had this horn *restored* by a really good tech. I believe I bought this for $300. Sounds about right. Overhaul was more than the horn.
I played, for a considerable amount of time:
* A mid-1920's baritone. Bare brass. In sad visual shape, but allegedly good pads. Hey, some of the keywork wasn't even original and a couple toneholes were corked to improve intonation.
I played, for a couple weeks:
* A late 1920's bass. Silver plate. Good pads, but I could grant that it may have been a little out of adjustment. However, it was a college horn and they did have techs there.
My mouthpieces were Raschers. The bass mouthpiece, which was broken, was actually slightly smaller than the Rascher bari 'piece, so I used the Rascher. However, I don't think the bass 'piece that was broken was original: no Conn logo. My reed of choice, on all pitches, was a 3.5 Vandoren.
So. Those are the horns and my setup.
They sucked.
==============
More specifically, here are the problems I had:
* Intonation on all the instruments was very iffy. This ranged from mild (the C melody) to ridiculous (the bass). The bass was so bad, I used false fingerings for the majority of what I played: I couldn't adjust my embochure fast enough. (I have heard, in the past, that it's pretty darn common to use false fingerings on basses.) On all my horns, I had the Eb vent intact and it worked. However, I also tried disabling the vent to improve intonation and there was no real difference. Hey, I might need that fork Eb fingering some day, y'know.
* Tone was very diffuse on the tenor, bari and bass. Loud, yes. But diffuse. I felt that, when I played, the actual note traveled about 3" and all the rest was muddy noise. The alto ... sounded like an alto. I fairly liked the overall tone of the C melody, but, seriously, I didn't use it all that much. No real need. (I used it a couple times in church for extra color.)
* The keywork was not ergonomic. That's almost a given, on horns this old, but it also felt sluggish. The Bundy II alto I had was better. Even the G# cluster.
* Of course, you also have no articulated G# on any of these old horns. That's the design, not really the fault of the horn. Something to keep in mind if you're considering one, tho!
* Even with the overhauled tenor, I had to throw a (plastic) mouthpiece cap in the bell to stop the gurgleling on the bell keys.
* Very hard to control dynamic contrast on any of these horns. The volume was "loud" or "louder" -- if you wanted the horns to speak, that is.
Admittedly, I don't remember the horns being very resistant, but I remember some difficulties with anything above high G coming out clearly or easily -- on any of the horns. No problems with my other instruments I owned (Bundy alto, Keilwerth-made Bundy bari, etc.). I can search for another good point, too: they were built like tanks. While I take fairly good care of my horns, I had a lot of 'em and they get "use marks". I don't remember ever damaging any of these Conns -- dents, dings, bends or whatever. The alto had a bell that was "pre-dinged", before I got it, but no significant damage after that. I don't even remember that ugly bari having any dents.
So, after I got rid of my Conns, I hated all things Conn for years -- although I admitted some were quite pretty -- until I tried a 30M. THAT'S a good horn. I'd recommend staying away from the New Wonders and earlier. Heck, stay away from 1920's-era horns, period. There are newer horns that have better ergonomics, keywork, intonation and tone for the same cash or less -- like a Buffet Dynaction or a Keilwerth New King (or NK stencil). And I thought my Keilwerth Bundy bari was pretty rugged.
So, what happened to my tenor? I traded it in and cash to get a YBS-52. The C melody was donated to a charity.