What brand is my helicon? (link fixed)

[davet]

In September I listed my Boston Musical Instruments helicon for sale. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29661

One of the inquiries was about the serial number. It turned out that the serial number doesn't seem to fit the Boston list.

When this was pointed out to me it made me recall that when I got it I had the lead pipe replaced. A Conn was a perfect fit. The tech who did the repair commented that all of the braces looked like Conn braces. The serial number would fit into the Conn sequence in 1917.

My question(s):

Did Conn make stencils for Boston?

If nobody knows for sure, do you think it is more likely than not that I have a Conn horn?

Do you have any advice for figuring out the real manufacturer?

Should I try to sell this as a Conn heli? (even though threre doesn't seem to be much interest in it!)

[imperialbari]

Your link just leads to the main board.

The helicon rather would be here:

http://davetibbets.freehosting.net/photo2_3.html

The structure of the body looks like the ones of my 26K and 28/K, but the large bow looks much leaner.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[windshieldbug]

It sure does look like my 1924 Conn 2K Eb helicon, which you can see at the Loyalist here:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~cderksen/Conn2K1924image.html

Perhaps the bell was mashed at some point, and the Boston bell was a good fit!

[tofu]

[imperialbari]

Boston Musical Instruments Eb helicon 3P.jpg

Conn 2K-3K Eb New Wonder Helicon.jpg

The Conn appears to have a W-shaped main tuning slide which potentially would be longer.

As said in my first posting, these look leaner in their large back bows than do my Conn 26K and 28 Eb sousaphones. I would be interested in knowing the bores of these two helicons.

I know of the Boston Musical Instruments company, but I don’t know the exact timeline. Wasn’t the company not stopping production sometime before 1930? Wouldn’t it be likely, that it had bought some of its model finished from Conn and just have put its own engraving on the bell? I see no signs that the bell isn’t original on this helicon in question.

Klaus

[windshieldbug]

Klaus,
The "W"-shaped tuning slide is Conn's "trademark-style" Low Pitch tuning slide. I also have a "U" main slide which is for High Pitch. The Low Pitch slide just happened to be in the horn when I took the picture for the Loyalist.

The bore is smaller than for a 26K.

I have a neck for my 26K, but you will note that I do not have a neck for the 2K, and the 26K neck does not fit.

Mike