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Help interpreting Bach Shop Card for Mt. Vernon



 
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StartingUpAgainAt53
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Joined: 30 Jan 2018
Posts: 44
Location: Half Moon Bay, CA

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:07 pm    Post subject: Help interpreting Bach Shop Card for Mt. Vernon Reply with quote

Greetings,

Hoping someone can help me with the interpretation of the Bach Shop Card I obtained for a Mt. Vernon Strad.

Valve Model= E, what does this mean?
Mouthpiece=25, 25 Lead Pipe?
Valve fit= 20, what is the relevance and what is the range?
Bell Brass= Amer., what is the relevance?
Finish= 1 1/2 cl, what does this mean?

Thanks for your help in advanced!

Cheers,
Marc
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LittleRusty
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 12647
Location: Gardena, Ca

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check out this page at Bach Loyalist.

This page contains most of the information you are looking for.
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StartingUpAgainAt53
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Joined: 30 Jan 2018
Posts: 44
Location: Half Moon Bay, CA

PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks LittleRusty!
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Goby
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Joined: 11 Jun 2017
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For the reference of future TH wanderers:

Valve Model= E
The most common valve model. Most early NY horns had valve model B, later NY and MT Vernon were model E. Large bore horns usually had model C.

Mouthpiece=25
25 leadpipe. I think it might be spelled "mouthpipe" on the card, but I can barely read Bach's handwriting.

Valve fit= 20
somewhat arbitrary marking. A lot of horns were marked "Exc Tight" standing for "exceptionally tight" valves. The number might be a pressure test result, but this doesn't really matter now that the horn is so old. Bach thought the valves were good when it left the factory.

Bell Brass= Amer.
Source for the brass is the American Brass Company. Bach also used German brass. Some Mt. Vernon horns have gold brass bells.

Finish= 1 1/2 cl
Finish 1-1/2 is clear lacquer. Finish #1 is raw brass, so 1-1/2 is a half step above or a "temporary finish" in Bach's own language. Lacquer of that era did not hold up well, which is why there are so many warranty cards for Bach, Olds, Martin, you name it, floating around with "lacquer finish not guaranteed" written on them
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OldSchoolEuph
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Goby covered most of it.

Just to add a few details: Bach used multiple "types" of valves (piston designs) in the early years. Around 1933 he settled on type E which necessitated increasing the height of the wrap to accommodate the porting without some (very obvious on earlier horns) elbows. Roy Hempley noted a number of shop cards that indicated "New Type E", so this may have been a revised version. Through the first couple years after the war, Bach did continue to occasionally mix in a Type B or Type C valve with Type Es on a horn- for reasons probably only he understood.

As noted, Bach's writing was not legible. The "Amer" for American brass gets worse when you consider that for gold brass he scrawled "Aur" or "Aur-n" (can't make out that 4th letter - looks a, e or o ish) for Aurum (Latin for gold). Telling the two apart is hard.
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