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Hi-
I see a lot ( well, sort of...) of 3 piston valve helicons and lots of European 3/4 rotary helicons, but besides Bloke's customized Buescher helicon, Jaffe Preservation Hall Buescher, & Schlepp's 4 piston customized helicon ---who on this board has a brass/silver, Eb/BBb, American 4 PISTON valve helicon (original, not 'made' into a helicon )? Pics? Just curious....
Thanks-
Mark

http://i54.tinypic.com/sne6pc.jpg

Tom Holtz and I both use 4-piston Bueschers. My BBb has an after-market valve section, and his Eb has 3 original pistons and one more skilfully added by Matt Walters.

Back in the 80's we had Mike Lynch send us two Conn helicons for the Disney World band.One was a four valve and it played great. The three valve one was great too but that wasn't your question. The boss didn't like them because they pointed to the left so they ended up buying two 20K's. Up to that point guys had used their own tubas on the job. Now the company has a warehouse full of sousaphones.Ed

Ed--The good news (for me) was that you guys sent them back. Talk about seller's remorse--I hadn't cleared the Greyhound parking lot from dropping them off before I was really sad I had shipped them off. I play the 4 valver several times a year.

Mike

Hi Mike-
Besides the Conn, any other 4v piston helicons in your museum--if ANYONE has them, you do!
Mark

Well Mark--there are a couple of others, a York and another Conn, both BBbs.

Mikelynch wrote:Well Mark--there are a couple of others, a York and another Conn, both BBbs.

If anyone had them, it had to be you! Very cool.
Mark

NOT original but this one plays really well. The components are 100% Conn if that means anything.

jonesmj wrote:Hi-
I see a lot ( well, sort of...) of 3 piston valve helicons and lots of European 3/4 rotary helicons, but besides Bloke's customized Buescher helicon, Jaffe Preservation Hall Buescher, & Schlepp's 4 piston customized helicon ---who on this board has a brass/silver, Eb/BBb, American 4 PISTON valve helicon (original, not 'made' into a helicon )? Pics? Just curious....
Thanks-
Mark

In my eyes the above reads as if the 3 reference helicons started out as helicons. To my knowledge two of them started out as sousaphones and had tuba belles added.

Klaus

I have two at the shop, one is a 1925 Conn original 4-piston helicon in BBb, in the process of being restored. The other is a Buescher 4-piston sousaphone in BBb, which will get the bell and brace from a Buescher 3-valve helicon, and be cut to CC as per the client's wishes, so it will be a Buescher 4-valve helicon made of all original Buescher parts.

The customer is a longtime professional player who wants a CC version of this classic instrument, and due to the success of Bloke's project, I now know that it is feasible to do. And, being the good fellow that he is, Mr. Bloke even assisted me in accumulating the needed parts.