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Joe,

I've always been curious about the Mahillon horns, esp. since he supposedly was one of the first to use acoustical research to make better horns. It would be great if you'd post some good pix of yours and also a review of how it plays.

There's a "Mahillon club"? What a cool idea. I have a Mahillon F that Ed Livingston said he was sure he'd seen Mr. Bell play, but I've always felt like he was pulling my leg (God bless him... .) It's horribly out of tune below the staff, but it's the best horn I've ever played the "bear" on - super tone and super easy blowing in that range.

I don't have it handy, but I know that the serial number was stamped in, but you can tell that each number (& letter) was individually stamped because it looks like a mouthful of crooked teeth. I hardly ever play it anymore (unless Petrushka comes around on the rotation) because my Perantucci's a lot more reliable across the spectrum, but I just can't bring myself to part with it. Besides, the 5th valve is practically a joke - poorly located both tonally and ergonomically.

bloke wrote: "meh-hee-yaw"

That's actually pretty good pronunciation, Bloke!

I had a Mahillon top-action 4 BBb quite a few years ago. One of the features that I liked was an adjustable sliding hand rest for the right hand (sometimes these are missing). Mine had virtually no nickel plating left and had a light green hue because of this. Someone "borrowed" it from me a long time ago and never returned it. I liked the way it played and don't recall any bad intonation issues.

My alma mater Jersey City State College (or whatever they're calling it these days) had several that they used for brass methods classes. They may be long gone.

I just bought a model 390 Walter Sear version recently. I apparently is made in 1960 (from the dating codes I have). It does not have the hand rest... Is that important to have??

Didn't Meinl Weston make a copy of these or possible one patterned after them? Or was Howard Johnson's name just attached to it?

Liberty Mo wrote:Didn't Meinl Weston make a copy of these or possible one patterned after them? Or was Howard Johnson's name just attached to it?

The story of the redesign in some detail:
https://youtu.be/yP-W4N_lpCw

Currently have one in the shop for a bit of sprucing up.

D.C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works
http://www.oberloh.com" target="_blank

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2153086541" target="_blank. There is a good close up of the hand rest on this one.