>> My question is, why is this one Conn so drastically different from the others from practically the same era? It's even different from the other 1955 one, which is almost identical to the others. It plays very well, but the fourth line D is occasionally stuffy on the Bb side. It is much more responsive What do the Bs mean on the valves? Why are there such inconsitencies and errors that make it seem thrown together? <<
It's almost certainly NOT a 1955 8D. It is very likley a very early Eastlake-era 8D from 1985-1990 era, OR an Abilene-era horn. I would bet that it's an early Eastlake. It looks different because they patterned a lot of the details after the King horns. The Eastlake factory is the old King factory, and some of the early Eastlake 8D's had King styling more than Conn styling. The other horns with "flamed" engraving are certainly not Elkart-era horns, but also post-1985 Eastlake era horns. The Elkhart series bells were engraved "C.G.Conn, LTD. Elkhart, IND" ,with no ornamentation. The "B" stamp on the valves are marks to indicate what series of parts they were from. I can't explain the witness marks, but I've seen Eastlake-made 8Ds without any witness marks, whatsoever. You might say they were "witless" marks. In fact the number of downright lousy manufacture mistakes that have come out of the Eastlake years are almost unbelievably high. The 8D has had so many stylistic changes over the years that it's almost impossible to enumerate them, and many of those changes have occured since the move to Eastlake, OH. -- Regards, Dave Weiner Brass Arts Unlimited _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
