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Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2020 12:24 pm
by joh_tuba
Located in Kansas City, MO

Very cool and unique helicon. I purchased this horn several years ago in VERY poor condition and have brought her back to life.

I've only found one other like this in the Simonetti Collection. Leadpipe extends down to main tuning slide THEN into fourth valve, features a Cerveny badge on the bell, has a really nice shoulder support that makes this horn very comfortable, surprisingly light and ergonomic, and has a lot of aesthetically pleasing curves.

Most notably, the rotors remove from the top similar to how you remove pistons.

This has some ramifications on how the stop arms are designed and how valve alignment can be established. Because there is no access on the bottom of the rotor casing *and* the top screws off there is no practical way to install a standard stop plate and stop arm like a traditional rotor. Instead, the original design had bumpers built into the stop arm. It was a rather kludgy system and when I bought this parts were missing and it wasn't worth salvaging. SOOOO... I sourced a new paddle assembly, built new stop arms and linkage to fit and designed a system to establish valve alignment at the lever.

The end result was a lot of money in parts and time BUT works quite well. They are fast and feel good under the fingers.

There are still some more minor dents in the horn that just aren't worth addressing without pulling the horn apart. There is also some cracks in the bell. Those could easily be patched if a buyer requested it but I decided that the cracks add to the cool look of the horn.

My price is $2995 OBO I will consider offers. Because of the shape, shipping will be a huge hassle that I would prefer to avoid but will happily negotiate with a serious buyer.

Other references to take note of:
https://simonettitubacollection.com/ins ... helicon-2/
Same horn as what I'm selling in the Simonetti Collection.

http://www.baltimorebrass.net/index.php?cat=5
If you scroll down you will see that Baltimore brass is selling a similar but different design version of what I'm selling for $1000 more than my asking price.

Link to pictures in google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing
Pictures of my niece are from before I fully rolled out the bell.

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 4:44 pm
by joh_tuba
This horn is a nice player. Hit me up with an offer!

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 4:11 am
by tofu
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Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 6:44 am
by Tubajug
Is it in BBb?

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 7:03 am
by joh_tuba
Thank you tofu! My horn sounds just like that.

Yes, the key is BBb.

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 1:14 pm
by Alex C
tofu wrote:I can't speak to the rarity, but here is another one in actual use.

This guy plays the hell out of it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK1J2ayKoxE
It's not the same horn. The bell is different and the leadpipe looks to me like it goes directly into the valve secion.

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 3:17 pm
by joh_tuba
Looking at pictures on their website... the leadpipe in the horn is the same as mine. The bell is also the same *BUT* it has been converted to a removable screwbell.

His horn has standard rotors with clockwork springs and mine has top removable rotors and has been upgraded to modern paddles and linkages.

For all practical purposes it's the same horn.

Re: Beautiful Four Rotor Helicon

Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 7:27 pm
by joh_tuba
BUMP!