Soprano piston bugle, G, D
Date1949-1950 ca.
Place MadeGrand Rapids, Michigan, United States, North America
ModelModel 800, Finish A
Serial No.157404
SignedEngraved on bell: YORKMarkingsStamped on valve cases: 157404
DescriptionBrass, mother-of-pearl finger buttons, double loop, main tuning slide at second bow, one Périnet valve parallel to bell lowering the pitch by a fourth, bottom-sprung, single water keys at first bow and valve loop.
Bugle for "two-pitch" music; the valve is intended to ease switching from one pitch to the other. The purpose of the horizontal valve placement was to conceal it from American Legion drum corps judges, who banned the use of valves. This one-valve bugle design with piston parallel to and concealed by the bell was introduced by the drum manufacturer William F. Ludwig shortly after 1927, who commissioned them from the William Frank Company of Band Instruments, Chicago. The York Band Instrument Company claimed in a 1952 catalog to have made outstanding bugles for 50 years. All the bugles in Soprano (Model 800), Tenor (Model 812), and Baritone (Model 824) size in the 1952 York catalog are in the key of G with a horizontal Périnet valve that lowers the pitch by a fourth to D.
DimensionsHeight: 496 mm
Tube length: 1632 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10.7 mm, 9.4 mm, 11.9 mm, 11.8 mm
Bell diameter: 153 mm
ProvenancePurchased from Mrs. T. B. Flower, Enfield, Connecticut, 1984.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06808
On View
Not on view
