My Czech Helicon Project "R. Lesage"

petter@brasseriet.no · Mon Feb 16, 2009 8:39 am

Dear Tuba players,
I have now bought an old Helicon from a musician in Eger/Cheb in the Czech Republic. The old thing has not been played in ages, but the body and parts seem OK. I will do a complete rebuild of the instrument, and I will publish pictures along the process.
The instrument is manufactured by "R.Lesage" in Praha/Kobylisy. I have never heard of this factory, please comment if you know any thing about it. My friend, a german brass instrument maker , will collect the instrument next week and start working.
More photos will follow!

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:07 am

Lesage is a French name. La Fleur, also French, was the brand of Czech instruments marketed by Boosey & Hakes as their cheapest line. Czech (also to some degree German, French, and Belgian) makers would put whatever names on their instruments).

Klaus

petter@brasseriet.no · Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:16 am

Then my friend in Markneukirchen, Germany has started to work on my BBb Helicon. The black layer of old dust has been removed. A hell of a job. The instrument is made of a very thick sheet brass and weighs appr. 11 kg/ 25 lbs. It seems like it will be a very nice instrument. 50 hours of work remain until the helicon is fully restored. More info follows.

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:26 am

Looks in good condition with few dents. Hope it plays well once restoration completed

Nice!

petter@brasseriet.no · Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:08 am

Dear tuba players,
some pictures of the restored Helicon arrived yesterday. I can´t wait to have the instrument in my hands!

Heli15.jpg

01 02 10_0260.jpg

The Big Ben · Post by **The Big Ben** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:43 am

Nice horn! Thanks for the photos. I'm interested a helicon 'someday' and am interested in seeing all of them I can!

Virtuoso · Post by **Virtuoso** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 12:14 pm

That's a beautiful horn.

oedipoes · Post by **oedipoes** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 4:28 pm

Petter, did you receive the isntrument already?
How does it play ?

Wim

Tuba-G Bass · Post by **Tuba-G Bass** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:11 am

Wow, what a transformation! It looked like it was stored for years in a smoke stack,
would love to know how the helicon sounds now?

petter@brasseriet.no · Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:55 am

YES!! It has arrived. I wrapped it up, inserted a CONN Helleberg mouthpiece and started to play.
This is the most free blowing Bb instrument I ever have tried! A fantastic low range!
I tried a brand new Cerveny Helicon last summer, but this beats it on every point.
More pictures here:
http://web.me.com/corno/Websted/Vintage ... licon.html" target="_blank

TubaNerd88 · Post by **TubaNerd88** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:09 pm

Link is broken. Possible fix?

- Matthew "stating the obvious" Gray

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:27 pm

http://tinyurl.com/ycs8cm8

TubeNet