1937 Conn 12b

[veum]

I’ve got a 1937 Conn 12b with a 319xxx serial number. From what I’ve read that seems quite early. Anyone have experience with an older 12b?

Thanks!

Bill

[lipshurt]

I have had two of them. They actually came in two bell thicknesses, really thick, and really thin. The thin bell has a folded type bead with no wire in the bead. The thick bell has a pronounced round bead.

The thin bell I had did not play nearly as well as the thick bell.
I took off the bell and found that the bell tail inner diameter was only .420!
The thick bell tail was .438, same as the 12b bore size.

I thought that was weird.

The thick bell in my experience was not as good as the regular brass 22b. The 12b is a 22b with a copper electro formed bell. The thick copper bell always sounded “dry” to me. Like it did not have any reverberation. The 22b bells (also either thick or thin by the way) had more reverberation built in the sound. The thin bell 12b was not as dry sounding, but it just did not play very well. That particular 12b had a real nice valve section. I switch the bell for a few different 22b bells and it was real good with the brass bells.

I wanted to like the 12b. I always thought that the bottom sprung 438 bore body is a really balanced valve block with nice extra weight.
The first valve though is always more loose and leaky than the 2nd and 3rd. Leave it that way. I tried refitting the valves and ended up using 800 grit on the first valve to get it to play. Somehow the 1st valve needs to be a bit looser. Now, you will find ones where the first valve is super loose. That’s not good either.

The main dif between a first gen 22b and the second gen 12b/22b is the the looser 1st valve on 2nd gen, and the heavier body on the 2nd gen. Most people either like one or the other. The 3rd gen (1953 on) is kind of good too, but I have not seen one with real good fitting valves. First gen valves almost always are good fitting even though they are the oldest.
_________________
Mouthpiece Maker
vintage Trumpet design enthusiast
www.meeuwsenmouthpieces.com
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[veum]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the reply. Looks like I've got one of the heavy ones. I like the way it plays and am looking forward to playing some lead on it when things open up again. It plays much differently than my 1927 22b in heavy silver plate and my '27 22b in lacquer.

Cheers,

Bill