TubeNet

According to a story residing somewhere on the web this was what Stan Kenton did prior to havin Conn making the straight version used in a separate section in his band during a shorter period of years.

My first own brass was a Dutch Schenckelaars mellophone, which I later sold to a jazz trumpeter making much better use of it. Today I have a Martin gold plated mellophone with tilted pistons. I have no first hand knowledge of straight mellophones, but I have two straight single horns in Bb and G.

Asd a ccollector of brasses I have some sense of proportions, costwise. And the reconstruction suggested by you never would be proportional by any standards.

At best mellophones are utility instruments with a narrow scope of applications. You may put whatever amount of work hours into a mellophone and it still won’t gain any additional value.

One certain electronic marketplace offers straight mellophones frequently enough to find one there. And you probably will get one of a relevant quality for less than the costs of your suggested remodelling.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

I would not attempt to 'straighten out' a wrap such as that. I would cut the flare off and completely remove a portion of the bell stem. Then I would scrounge around in my junk to find an appropriate bell stack that would match the horn and put everything back together.

I have two of those old Conn marching F horns.... complete with cases and Eb slides. They also take a special mouthpiece. They were a flash in the pan and don't play very well at all. Want one? Cheeeep.

my high school has about 10 of those old conns. Not counting the one they are lending me. They really are goofy instruments. If you can't find a Conn 1 mellophonium mouthpiece you can use a standard cornet mouthpiece. One of the better examples of good players making sub-par instruments sound nice is the mellophonium section in the Stan Kenton Jazz Orchestra, there is a good video of a mellophonium jazz solo on google videos it's worth a look.

More mellophone heros: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellocast

Donn wrote:More mellophone heros: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mellocast

I posted a link to that 1925 band at the Zoo picture on the DJML - we figured out that it was probably a publicity shot for a 1926 film named "Better 'Ole Club" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016643/fullcredits#cast but we are all still trying to recognize any of the musicians. Possibly Ted Lewis on the clarinet.

No reserve Conn "straight bell"

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Conn-16E-Me ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=025

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Elkhart-Mad ... dZViewItem

bloke wrote:Please stop. You're giving me a bad case of mellophobia.

Symptoms of Melophobia - Fear of hatred or music:
breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.

Naptown Tuba wrote:

bloke wrote:Please stop. You're giving me a bad case of mellophobia.

Symptoms of Melophobia - Fear of hatred or music:
breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of dying, becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.

Appears like this condition is not new bloke.

K

Naptown Tuba wrote:a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.

And here I thought that Melophobia was the inability to make a decent attack...

bloke wrote:Who cares?"

Man did so since Adam.

K