For a while now I’ve had a Vienna horn borrowed locally. I have wanted to enjoy playing it, but the fact was it was kind of disappointing, it did not play as well as my rotary valve, crooked single F horns. All the mouthpieces I tried to use didn’t help that much.

A prior user had faced a similar point with this Pizka model horn (this one was made by Haagston) and had put together another crook. That crook had some potential when I tired it, but was at least four inches too short and was unfinished — it did not did not have a proper tenon or brace. The crook “before” is seen below with the key parts I planned to add, with the Haagston crook on the right.

Backing up a step, a very key item was I had to modify a tenon to do this right, and I had also for years wanted to buy a small lathe. Those two things came together this fall, and I used the lathe to modify a tenon from a Chinese natural horn crook, seen below in process.

Besides disassembly of the crook, I also had to open up the bend of the parts. I filled them as much as I could with Cerrobend (filling the main areas that needed modification) and got the parts massaged to size. The second piece of the original was FAR out of round also, so that was balled out with dent balls. Finally I fit it all up and got to the point seen below.

I made brass ferrules that matched the ferrule on the Haagston/Pizka crook and found a very similar brass brace to use that is an old King part. Then I put it together, after an initial buffing of all the parts. I used a new (to me) silver bearing, non-lead solder that worked well (I had been using traditional 50/50 solder for many years), recommended by Richard Seraphinoff. It’s not cheap, but it was time I went lead free in the shop.

From there cleanup took me a while due to life logistics. But I could tell the crook played well — it really improved the playing qualities of this horn. This morning I finally got it all done, the finished views are below, with the original crook for comparison. I think I matched the original style pretty well.

As to specifics, you may wonder, what is different about this crook? The leadpipe area for sure has a different taper, reflected in the venturi size as well. On the original crook the venturi was a rather large .310″ and the new one is a much tighter .290″. For comparison, your modern horn likely has a venturi in the .295-.305 range, and a natural horn from the past is probably smaller than .280.

I should comment a little more on the Haagston/Pizka horn these crooks belong to. Sound wise, it is so smooth, and you can play very aggressively on it if you desire. Intonation is manageable, but not as easy as a modern double horn. The valve mechanism is still holding up, but I do worry a bit about all the plastic parts in it, and I should also note to the reader that it has a rather heavy action (which I believe to be typical of Vienna horns). I’ll have more on this in Horn Matters soon, in a series that I started yesterday (the first post is here).

In any case, this new crook I am really enjoying, and I believe it has increased the value of this horn. Looking forward to playing more on this crook in the coming weeks and beyond.