1924 Conn New Wonder Resurrected - Before and Afters SOLD!
Everybody loves good before and afters, so here is a series with some dramatic changes. To see the whole gallery on this 1924 Conn New Wonder go here.
This horn was originally owned by a busy riverboat musician. It was played heavily, as is evidenced by the pitted brass on the left hand table, the side keys, and under the right hand thumb hook. It was then stored in a dank garage for years and ultimately subjected to flooding. When this horn was brought to me by the nephew of the original owner, an expletive involuntarily flew out of my mouth and I shook my head at the enormity of the job ahead of anyone should they dare to rebuild this horn. And it was indeed enormous.
This horn needed an entire new set of oversized hinge rods. The main rods went up from .106" to .108 and the
Everybody loves good before and afters, so here is a series with some dramatic changes. To see the whole gallery on this 1924 Conn New Wonder go here.
This horn was originally owned by a busy riverboat musician. It was played heavily, as is evidenced by the pitted brass on the left hand table, the side keys, and under the right hand thumb hook. It was then stored in a dank garage for years and ultimately subjected to flooding. When this horn was brought to me by the nephew of the original owner, an expletive involuntarily flew out of my mouth and I shook my head at the enormity of the job ahead of anyone should they dare to rebuild this horn. And it was indeed enormous.
This horn needed an entire new set of oversized hinge rods. The main rods went up from .106" to .108 and the
smaller rods went up from .088" to .092" and the hinge tubes were reamed with .1085" and .0925" reamers respectively. It needed 19 hinge tube extensions, one post bushing, 11 posts needed to be resoldered, the entire lower stack assembly needed to be removed and resoldered, one key needed to be cut and rebrazed to correct poor alignment. It needed all new rollers made. I made custom rollers out of marbled acrylic pen blanks. It needed all new needle springs, and it needed hours and hours of heavy polishing.
But the New Wonder is a seriously powerful horn. The enormity of the job is matched by the enormity of its sound. That Conn sound is so easily and immediately identifiable. The engineers at Conn had honed in on something that is still mysterious to all of us a century later. How did they make horns that produced such a large sound?
Between 1923 and 1925, some New Wonders featured this rare engraving on a diagonal. I love it. And I love this horn.
But the New Wonder is a seriously powerful horn. The enormity of the job is matched by the enormity of its sound. That Conn sound is so easily and immediately identifiable. The engineers at Conn had honed in on something that is still mysterious to all of us a century later. How did they make horns that produced such a large sound?
Between 1923 and 1925, some New Wonders featured this rare engraving on a diagonal. I love it. And I love this horn.
