TubeNet

Anyone have experience with holding the Conn Constellation 24i/25i with the tuning slide trigger?
I'm having trouble positioning my left hand in a way that doesn't accidentally touch the third valve slide spit valve. You're supposed to use your left thumb for the trigger, correct? maybe I should just pull down on the main slide from the bottom instead of using the thumb loop?
spit valve I keep hitting

This was designed by Henry Charles Smith and there are recordings of him playing it but I haven't been able to find a picture of him (or anyone else) holding it. http://www.dwerden.com/forum/content.ph ... QgWpy2ZNTY

As much as I love my 24i, neither my teacher nor I have ever been able to figure out how the the thumb ring should be used.

My hand fits a little higher over the tuning slide than yours does but it still doesn’t work comfortably.

You might consider holding the horn a little more perpendicular and see if that helps.

I use the school's 25i in college for a year or two, but never found any way to use the spring-loaded intonation thingy. Years later, I played a King Legend 2280 (Conn has a clone). I like both horns, but as before, I never found any way a human hand could operate the tuning kicker. When the topic came up once again, I asked TubeNet if anyone actually USES this gadget. Never got a response. My guess: it's only there so they can advertise this wonderful unusable feature.

John Thompson

Forum user enhite has graciously shared with me this brochure that he got from Henry Charles Smith which answered all my questions!