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N.Y. Calicchio, ca. 1931



 
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yourbrass
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:40 pm    Post subject: N.Y. Calicchio, ca. 1931 Reply with quote

Another "pandemic project" completed:



This Calicchio trumpet from I believe, about 1931, has been restored and lacquered. Thanks to Tom Green of Green's Buffing in Elkhart, IN for the excellent cleanup and lacquer work. The rest of the overhaul was my doing.



The first slide is the only quick-tuning on the horn, this was what Calicchio did to one extent or another w/his early instruments. Before WWII, it was common for trumpets and cornets to have no 3rd slide throw. They would compensate by having a slightly longer 3rd slide for low D and Db.

Why do I say 1931 as a date of manufacture?



The serial number doesn't correspond to any subsequent Calicchio number. I've looked at half a dozen serial numbers from my friend John Worley's collection of Wm. Frank's instruments, and they do not agree in position and type font with this serial no. However, this font looks like the one that Calicchio used until his demise in 1979.

I believe that it is a date of manufacture, as Schilke did in his early days as a maker. I'll stick to that theory until new information emerges.

How does it play?
It is really a horn of its day - if I put a typical mouthpiece in that I use on my Benge, it sounds like a duck - extremely nasal and weird. I got out my Pickett 3C top and the ACB Mt Vernon copy backbore and it is a lot better. But it still sounds, to some extent, like your putting a cup, or megaphone, on the sound coming out of the bell. Hard to describe.

More pics here, and please turn on comments to see mine:

https://www.smugmug.com/app/organize/NY-Calicchio-ca-1931?nick=lionelemde
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blbaumgarn
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:49 pm    Post subject: N.Y. Calicchio, c.a. 1931 Reply with quote

Congratulations on some fine work. A fine piece of trumpet history.
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OldSchoolEuph
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:25 am    Post subject: Re: N.Y. Calicchio, ca. 1931 Reply with quote

yourbrass wrote:
It is really a horn of its day - if I put a typical mouthpiece in that I use on my Benge, it sounds like a duck - extremely nasal and weird.


Beautiful work. It's a museum piece.

Your description got me thinking so looked to see what horns I have that were designed & built around that time give or take a couple years.

I did find the Indian Chieftain, White's awful Student Prince peashooter and the York USA line trumpet that sounds like a duck being stepped on, but I also found the Selmer Grand Prix, Martin Handcraft Imperial, Holton Model 30, and King Liberty #2 Silvertone - all horns still well regarded today that may have a darker, less brilliant period tone, but have their uses - and certainly don't quack.

It seems odd that Calicchio could have built a company on horns that were not up to the tonal standards of the 4 I just mentioned that debuted between 1930 and 1932.
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fblues
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Joined: 04 Mar 2017
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is indeed a beautiful horn!

It is quite interesting because I have a Calicchio trumpet (Serial #:1390) that was made in LA.
I guess that the company moved to the west during that period of time.
https://imgur.com/a/LGPARLL
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yourbrass
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Joined: 12 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:28 am    Post subject: Re: N.Y. Calicchio, ca. 1931 Reply with quote

OldSchoolEuph wrote:
yourbrass wrote:
It is really a horn of its day - if I put a typical mouthpiece in that I use on my Benge, it sounds like a duck - extremely nasal and weird.


Beautiful work. It's a museum piece.

Your description got me thinking so looked to see what horns I have that were designed & built around that time give or take a couple years.

I did find the Indian Chieftain, White's awful Student Prince peashooter and the York USA line trumpet that sounds like a duck being stepped on, but I also found the Selmer Grand Prix, Martin Handcraft Imperial, Holton Model 30, and King Liberty #2 Silvertone - all horns still well regarded today that may have a darker, less brilliant period tone, but have their uses - and certainly don't quack.

It seems odd that Calicchio could have built a company on horns that were not up to the tonal standards of the 4 I just mentioned that debuted between 1930 and 1932.


Thank you, Ron. The bell is tempered super-hard, it's as hard as a YTR2320, which was a very hard and brittle bell. I wonder if that doesn't affect tone quality. Other parts are unusual- the leadpipe is 9 1/8" long and fairly tight in bore, like a small Benge pipe. The tuning crook is really crude, definitely hand-made. And there's the Wm. Frank valve section, which has various bores of knuckles coming out of it, no particular logic I could discern.

-Lionel
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yourbrass
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A business card sold on ebay, date unknown:


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