John EricsonI usually write up posts when projects are closer to done. But over Spring Break I did start in on a new project, and for a change I’ll document the beginning.
A crooked valve horn?
I’ve worked up several of these now, it’s a type of 19th century design that appeals to me.
The genesis of this project was this Josef Glassl horn. An eBay purchase, look at that great bell! It has a narrow profile like I’d think of from the mid-19th century, with a beautiful, wide nickel silver garland.
After that you might notice that the valve section is missing important parts and also one of the slides. With some other damage, it’s been dropped several times.
But also you can see that it was made to take a (short) crook originally. Lots of potential here!
Eyeballing the horn and doing measurements, I came up with a plan.
For a valve section I am opting to use this one from a “generic” (unmarked) horn of a slightly newer era but probably around 1900. It has some interesting design things going on.
Check out the first valve slide and also the valve section in general. It has some “pop” still, as I don’t think the horn was used a lot as it played terribly! It had a very poor leadpipe and bad design, with the main slide after the valve section. But the valve section will work well with the bell.
Note that the bell on this had previously been removed, the nice hand-hammered flare cut off to use on modern horn.
I should mention that I have a new torch. Taking this apart was the first project using it. Took a little bit to dial in but I think it’s going to work real well.
It still took a while to get things apart. The Glassl horn is really well made, with LONG contacts between tubes, bent perfectly. But with all the missing parts, it was never going to be played again as it was.
Connecting the two, it looks like a Yamaha first branch (from a single F) will work with modification. I’ll start with that, if it does not I have other options that can be explored. The below is how it looks right now.
I’m hoping to get this horn finished (at least the body) before summer, in addition to fixing up an older project (Yamaha single F converted to take crooks) and probably a couple other things before I have to close up shop (due to heat and my shop being in the garage). Stay tuned for updates.