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I just got back from a drive down to visit Lee Stofer. He had just finished restoring my Martin Monster Eb and to pick up a Holton Eb Helicon. Lee had worked late on Thursday night so he was ready on Friday morning. Because the helicon and Martin are old horns and LP/HP horns, neither were easy to get in tune to the modern A 440 tuning. I tested each horn with a tuner and he modified the tuning slides specifically for me. He said that some people naturally play sharp or flat and this way the horns are set for me with room to adjust for temperature changes both up and down. It took a bit of cutting a soldering, but with Lee's expertise it went quickly. During that time, we swapped stories and talked tuba. It was fun. As always, Lee is the perfect gentleman and his lab Chewy is always available for petting. Here are some pictures of his handiwork. Picured are my Martin, the helicon and those two with my Kanstul.

What goes around comes around. I traded that horn to Lee a couple years ago. BTW, Lee is the best. Want to know the backstory?

A french horn playing friend calls me and she says - "you got to come over to this garage sale - they've got something you need to buy." So I go - the 2 big items for sale are a brand new yellow casket and this completely black helicon. Both have the same price. Didn't need the casket - so I assumed she meant the helicon. The seller, a local HS choir director had a long winded story that it was his grandfather's horn and he was a band director in I believe Lansing MI or Ann Arbor - I can't remember which one. If I recall I think the horn is 1911 or 1912 build. Supposedly the gentleman in question auditioned for the CSO with the horn, but was told that while he had a lovely sound - they were looking for a tuba. Apparently an early case of Helicon Discrimination! Where oh where is the justice department when you need them. Leave it to Bloke to lead the break through of Helicons into symphonic music groups. Bloke - the tuba version of Rosa Parks. The scale on the horn when I got it was "interesting". The horn eventually ended up in the grandfather's barn where it sat for years until the grandfather passed. Except for the tarnish - the horn was in remarkably good visual condition. In my rush to get there I forgot to bring a mouthpiece - so I couldn't play it - so I discounted the CSO story and offered him one fifth of what he was asking and he accepted.

Want to know why the big patch on the bottom?

After I got the horn I arranged to take it up to the Brasswind and have Wayne Tannabe work on it since they had previously worked on another helicon for me. It sat in my basement for a couple days. It smelled really bad - assumed it was the tarnish - noticed a couple horse flies - never had those before - loaded horn in back seat of car - horn really stunk - took horn to Wayne - an hour later - at my office - get frantic call from Wayne - hear all kinds of yelling in background - they had dropped the horn in the tank to clean it - and a horrid mixture of horseflies/maggots/several dead possums comes out - the smell is so bad they had to open all the windows - empty the tank - and close the place for the day. The decaying mixture had created several hairline cracks in the brass and Wayne decided that patch cut from a donor horn would be the best option to go versus trying to fill the cracks.

Moral of the story boys and girls - barn yard finds sometimes come with *extras* - and remember those mouthpieces. And sometimes horns in remarkably good original shape are that way for a reason.

As Paul Harvey would have said: And now you have the rest of the story!

How did all those different things end up in your tuba?? Severl oppossums?? How big is this horn??Were they down in the bottom of the big bow??Were they babies??...Didn't you try to give it a blow when you got home??...Pretty wild story...I like it ...Thanks.................................BB

Thank you for the story of the helicon. Lee looked up the serial number in his reference book and determined that it was made in Elkhorn, WI in 1921. I will continue to trace the manufacturing history. Based on what Lee said, it fits the story you told. I traded Lee a Holton BBb Sousaphone made in 1927 for it. He will have to clean that up, but that will play well when he's done with it. I wanted an Eb, so I am happy. The helicon had the tuning slides for both high pitch and low pitch. Which means it really doesn't tune to A=440. Lee shortened the low pitch slide based on my playing of the horn. Then he soldered everything together. I have repeatedly tested each note with a tuner and I can easily get everything in tune at 440 now. You may have had some interesting tones but they seem to have resolved themselves after the cleaning and expert restoration. With the possum story, I now have to contact Red Green. I think I have the official Possum Lodge Helicon! That means I have to wear Red Green suspenders every time I play it.

Every old horn has a story. This one is a bit more colorful than some. Thank you again for sharing it.

bigbob wrote:How did all those different things end up in your tuba??

Mother crawled in apparently and gave birth. Don't know why they didn't survive. Horn apparently was in old barn of sellers father. Wild animals like undisturbed shelters.

Severl oppossums?? How big is this horn??

fairly big Eb with a "Monster" size bell

Were they down in the bottom of the big bow??Were they babies??..

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Yes and yes

Didn't you try to give it a blow when you got home??...

No. I bought it on a Sat. afternoon had gigs on Sat night and Sunday and dropped the horn off on my way to the office on Mon. am. Plus It smelled and I figured the only way to really tell what it's potential would be was after it got cleaned. I bought the horn for a song. It was so cheap that even if it only turn out to be a wall hanger it would have still been cheap. It was also in too nice of shape to let it suffer the fate of being nailed to a wall.

I wasn't looking for a helicon and didn't need it since I already had a superb helicon that I've used for about 1500 jazz gigs which covers the 30 years I've had it. This horn had its own history as it was bought by a wife of a soldier who went off to WWI and was to be a coming home present from her. He made the ultimate sacrifice in France and she placed it in the closet of an upstairs bedroom of a house in Winnetka Il on the shore of Lake Michigan and it sat there untouched for 65 years until she passed away at the age of 95. My dad who was a huge jazz fan and knew Preservation Hall well, knew what it was when he spotted it and bought it on the cheap from the estate. Other than tarnish the only thing wrong on this horn was a busted in second valve slide knuckle from being jammed into the closet which was easily fixed. Old horns are always a hit and miss proposition. This one was basically a brand new 65 year old horn when I got it and it turned out to be a wonderful player. Great sound and scale.

While I'm not a pro - I'm also not a colIector and expect my horns to earn their spot in the house. So after the Holton was cleaned it was obvious that it needed to have the cracks in the bottom bow dealt with. The horn had a nice sound, but the scale would need some serious attention by somebody who really knew what they were doing. Already owning a superb helicon I decided I didn't want to sink a lot cash in a horn that I really would not use so I traded it to Lee who is certainly one of the best people to tackle this. I'm glad it has found a new home and is back to making music with somebody who will appreciate it.

I brought my Martin to Community Band practice tonight to see how it would blend with the band. This is my first outing since Lee restored it. That work included a valve job. I guess this horn has needed the work of a long time because WOW what a difference. I never knew that horn had such a deep resonate sound. The BBb player was impressed. It was a little tricky in spots with only 3 valves, but things worked out very well. Lee said he would make it a player. He really did! Given a choice, I will choose my Kanstul, but this was just fine for situations like tuba Christmas or other things where there is a high likelihood your horn can get bumped. In a month or so, we will have an outdoor concert. The Holton Helicon will make it's first performance then.

I had Lee restore my Martin renowned Monster Eb. He rebuilt the valves made it so it fit a modern mouth piece, adjusted the tuning slide to allow for 440+A tuning, add a spit valve and fixed some leaks. Oystein Baadsvik dropped by and tested it the other day. His reaction is he liked the sound very much. It played very well. Three valves were a limitation. He found the Sellsmanberger Symphony mouthpiece a good choice for this horn.