Trumpet, B-flat

Maker C. G. Conn, Ltd.

Date1951

Place MadeElkhart, Indiana, United States, North America

ModelConnstellation

Serial No.396510

SignedEngraved on bell bell: C. G. CONN – LTD. (zigzag-line style) / Connstellation (longhand script) / ELKHART – U.S.A. (zigzag-line style)
MarkingsEngraved on leadpipe: Connstellation and 28B
Stamped on second valve casing: PATENTED and 396510
Stamped on valve casings, upper valve caps and piston guide-pin heads, respectively: 1, 2, 3
DescriptionBrass (body), clear lacquer, nickel-plating (ferrules, finger hook, finger buttons, valve caps, upper part of valve casing), mother-of-pearl finger button inlay, single loop, main tuning slide at first bow, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), top-sprung, spring outside stem, alignment by two guide pins fitting in bearing holes of Clickless Crysteel pistons, single water keys at main tuning slide and third valve slide, first valve trigger with thumb-operated lever system, third valve trigger with adjustable finger ring, windway 3-2-1.

Silver mouthpiece, stamped: CONN 4.

The Connstellation 28 B model has a characteristic lever-operated first valve trigger and a larger bore at the first valve. The patent referred to on the second valve casing relates to US patent no. 2,302,914 (applied for by Harry G. Runyon, assigner to C. G. Conn, on June 13, 1941, and granted November 24, 1942) for a new valve construction with two long guide pins.
DimensionsHeight: 480 mm
Tube length: 1294 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, first valve slide, third valve slide): 11 mm, 8.9 mm, 11.6 mm, 12.3 mm (0.483 inches), 11.6 mm (0.456 inches)
Bell diameter: 127 mm (5 inches)
ProvenancePurchased new in 1951 from Dick McFarland Music, Elk City, Oklahoma, where Joe Utley worked as a high school student.
Published ReferencesKlaus, Sabine Katharina. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 1: Instruments of the Single Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2012), p. XII.
-------. “The Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection: A Trumpeter’s Dream Comes True,” International Trumpet Guild Journal 34, no 4 (June 2010), p. 38.

Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999

Object number06789

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