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I aquired at an auction a Helicon (Bb) manufactured by Nuss of Harrisburg, PA. The horn is mostly dent free and the valves are in very good shape. It had no gooseneck however. I've have a Olds gooseneck and it is a bit too small. I added some tape to the neck and the horn sounds pretty good. Pitch is reasonable so far - I'll wait to get a proper fitting gooseneck before making any firm thoughts on intonation.

The ID for the opening for the gooseneck is 11/16" (0.6875"). Who makes a reasonably readily available gooseneck that might fit? King? Conn? I saw on the web a Nuss Eb helicon that said it had a Conn gooseneck in it. With the taped up Olds neck (and two bits), the tuning slide was out about 1.5"

Any thoughts? Anyone have a used gooseneck and bits for sale? - preferably unlaquered and tarnished to match the current finish. I'll probably leave the horn tarnished. I plan to use this for the dixie band I play in

I think the Conn will be too big. It is O.D. .688

The closest thing I can find is a Bundy, which is O.D. .668

The rest are too small.

Olds - .636
Holton - .641
King - .654

Hope this helps.

BTW, can I use your pictures on www.horn-u-copia.net?

Kenton

And if the neck is loose, a good tech may be able to run an appropriately sized ball up the connection end of the neck to help it fit better, and to avoid the risk of deformation of the actual leadpipe into the valve block by ovetightening the neck thumbscrew.

Philip Jensen wrote:I aquired at an auction a Helicon (Bb) manufactured by Nuss of Harrisburg, PA. The horn is mostly dent free and the valves are in very good shape. It had no gooseneck however. . . .

I like your helicon, Phillip. From the bracing, it reminds me of two old Conn/Pan American sousa and helicon instruments I am working on.

I had an excellent purchasing experience (for a 50s York sousa gooseneck) with a custom manufacturer of such parts who sells on the auction site as "mrstregs". Search for one of his auction listings to ask him a question.

I highly recommend measuring the inside diameter of the fitting accurately with a telescope gage and micrometer. The measuring technique is shown in the pictures. I would measure in at least six vertical and perpendicular locations. That will determine out of round and taper conditions in the old clamp fitting.

That clamp connection must have a very accurate sliding fit with the new gooseneck to avoid air leakage.

Are you sure it isn't a Conn stencil? The reason I ask is, and I can't remember where I read this, not only is the loop going into the bugle definitely Conn in its shape and proportion to the horn, but on Conn helicons, the main tuning slide was longer, as it is on this horn, than on the souzys because the bell, of course, doesn't have the extra length needed to bend up and forward.