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So this popped up for sale the other day in Cincinnati. It was listed for $200, so I HAD to pick it up. Not only does the serial number date it to roughly 1911, but there is a veteran's name engraved just under the logo. Upon looking him up, I found out he had received commendations from the president for his bravery in battle while over in France!

The bad stuff: Most of the braces are either detached or outright broken. The leadpipe was the only thing holding the valve section onto the bugle. The ferrule between the leadpipe and the valves is badly cracked. There is a good-sized dent in the bottom bow and another right on the ferrule connecting the bottom bow to the top branch. There is a small crack in the 3rd valve tubing. Also, one of the guards was soldered on with lead. I'll be un-soldering that outside and hopefully upwind.

The good stuff: The leadpipe is immaculate! For its age, it has no business being in such good shape. The bell is in great shape too. The valves are dirty, but it looks like most of the plating is intact and there's good compression. It has a high pitch/low pitch slide, so it won't be hard to play A440. Overall it's in great shape. I got all but the low pitch slide pulled as soon as I got it home.

I'm going to restore this back to its former glory as best I can. The one thing I really need are genuine York braces. If you have some lying around, please let me know and I'll be happy to pay for them!

Progress! After letting it sit with some corrosion cracker for almost a week, all the slides and caps are off. The bell and branches got a nice acid bath, and I'm seeing lots of silver underneath. Also, the valves are in AMAZING shape. Maybe one more round of acid baths for everything and then it's onto polishing and minor dent work. I'm still trying to track down some genuine York braces to replace the broken ones, so let me know if you have any laying around!

While you are at it put on a couple of rotors. It looks a big blower.

I have a 1907 just like it.

After sitting on the shelf for awhile, we finally had time to put more work into it! We repaired all the broken braces (or simply made new flanges) and made a new ferrule to go between the leadpipe and valve section. One more acid bath and we assembled it for the first time. First and foremost, this thing plays wonderfully! The only downside is that it plays about 40 cents flat on the low side and 40 cents sharp on the high side haha. Rather than take it back apart to cut the low side up to pitch, we're making slide legs to bring the high side down to modern pitch. I've decided not to polish it because the silver plating is already so thin. Maybe I'll shine up the bell. That's all anyone looks at anyway lol.

Although this is an impractical thing, having the slide legs on and engaging the low pitch loop should put it in D for those odd occasions where I'm feeling quirky.