Can someone identify this trumpet?

[bujbot]

I saw this on goodwill. I'm not sure I understand what's going on with bell pipe. Is it a piston to quickly change the instruments key?

Would love to learn more about it. Obviously some people know what it is as it's sitting at $80 and has no description beyond "brass trumpet parts only".

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/104379216

Thanks!

[Dennis78]

Looks like a Conn 80 A cornet. Kinda sought after.
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a few different ones

[khedger]

Yep, Conn 80A cornet. I've got one right next to me
I love mine, especially that I now have appropriate mouthpiece. Not sure why they're listing this as a parts horn...

keith

[Crazy Finn]

[Liberty Lips]

It might be pretty hard to find that missing bottom cap for the third valve.

[bujbot]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the super quick response. I'm googling the Conn 80A now. Would love to see one with a coprion bell!

I'm not sure why this ones going for over $80 in that condition though.

[huntman10]

The 80A victor model tuning slide (on the bell tail, by the valves) was often called the "Opera Glass" tuning, because it looked like a folding "binocular" arrangement that had lenses and people used it to see what was happening on stage. The main tuning slide is the bump in the bell tail with the micro adjustment.

The "main slide" out front was designed to be used to change the horn from Bb To A without changing the tuning set on the micro tuned slide. These horns were made from the teens until the late 60's, but not many people used the A pull as designed. The earlier versions had a "mechanism" that pulled all the valves out for A when the front slide was pulled out, and when pressed back, it would put the slides back for Bb. Finding one with the complete "mechanism" is tough. I have a really nice 1927 version.

Look at the serial number when trying one out. In the old days, most were silver. A serial number ending with and asterisk (*) meant it was a custom order, probably with a Coprion bell, BTW. In the 1950's and 60's, a serial number ending with an X was similar.

And yes, the horns play much better with a short shank older style mouthpiece. I like the Anchor Grip or the Yamaha short shank 16E. It brings out the "old style" tone in my horn.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[bujbot]

[huntman10]

Another thing about the 80A Victor, there were several variations that were similar. At one point the model without the mechanism, but everything else the same was something like the 81A. The 80A models were very large bore (the Conn 2 1/2 Bore, 0.484") but don't be put off by that bore size, they were pretty easy to play. Thay made a variant in the 30's that was pretty similar, but a tighter wrap, (0.459" Conn 2bore), the 8A. And later, a ML (Conn 1 1/2 bore) bore that reversed the flow in the Opera Glasses tuner, making the horn a bit shorter. That was the 38A Victor, not to be confused with the 38A Connstellation from the 60's and 70's.

Finally, when getting into older horns, we currently tune to "Low Pitch" (A=440 cycles). High pitch was 457 cycles, and was more common in German instruments. Actually, the armistice at the end of World War I set low pitch as an international standard. If you get an older horn, it may be marked "High Pitch" or "Low Pitch". Some of the 80A Victors had two sets of slides, the longer set is the correct one, if you want to play with modern instruments. I have had a few high pitch horns that had enough slide pull to get to low pitch, but I would just steer clear of high pitch unless you have a set of longer slides.

The Conn Loyalist has some really great info on the Conn horns, but there are a BIG pile of horn models to sift through to find the information, BTW.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[Dennis78]

I wonder if a 80B exist?
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a few different ones

[huntman10]

RE: Conn 80B? The B indicates a trumpet, and Conn didn't necessarily make similar cornets and trumpets in "pairs".

The Conn Loyalist only includes those models from the old C.G. Conn Ltd. production in Elkhart Indiana, which ended with the sale and reorganization in 1980. Easy enough to get on the Conn Loyalist and find that the closest number in that period was the 77B, which was a number 1 bore (0.438", similar to the 38B Connstellation, a rather small bore valve set combined with a big throated bell.

But, actually, there was a Conn 80B Heritage, which has nothing to do with the old 80a Victor, it is a ML bore that came out somewhere around 1980 under the newly formed Conn Company. Not really a pro horn, but good student step up horn.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[Denny Schreffler]

Probably a Conn 80A but might be a 38A, which looks the same but is much less common.

-Denny