Helicon Owners

[Eric B]

When in high school, my private instructor owned two beautiful helicons. I have always wanted to own one as a novelty. Who knows, it might be fun to play at a Tuba Christmas event.

What are some of the best examples ever manufactured (make & year)?

Where did you find your helicon? (Include pics if you'd like)

I just changed my avatar for the occasion

[Z-Tuba Dude]

I have a Conn BBb "New Wonder" helicon ca. 1911. I acquired it from Baltimore Brass, about 5 years ago, and I have had the valves overhauled. It plays very nicely!

[David Richoux]

AFAIK - The only one easily available new right now (other than questionable Indian Helicon-like objects) is the Amati-Cerveny BBb 4 rotary valve - I have one and it is very good - nice full sound, comfortable design (the right hand position could be a bit better, but it is OK,) not too expensive (relatively.) They also make Helicons in EEb and F, but I have never played them. The F helicon is popular in Balkan Brass bands, BTW.

If you are only really looking for a novelty horn, you have to get back to around the 1920s or earlier, so each helicon you find will have age related characteristics, rebuild quality and such... You have to take some risks in finding a good playing horn. I like Conns, myself - my first Helicon was a 1918 3 valve piston BBb Conn that was built for the US Army. It had to be totally rebuilt, but the valves were original and did not need to be re-plated. I have heard some Bueschers that are very nice, but never owned one.
(For some pictures, check out the Horn-u-copia.net site. Sort/search by instrument type.)

[dmmorris]

I also have a Conn BBb "New Wonder" helicon ca. 1921, 4-valve, model 32K I think. The bell is stamped "exchanged for new Buescher Elkhart, IND" 8721....so Buesher was prolly pushing a similar product in the early 20th century.

I Love it!

I bought it "with patience and fortitude" (read: after lots of watching and waiting), from tubahed who in turn had bought it from Lee Stofer....I think Lee told me he found it in a barn. It's a little stuffy, but very reliable and very fun to play. I have used it for stand-up community Christmas gigs, church, honky-tonk, Ragtime, etc. Busking with it this Saturday...until the ukulele player stops singing & playing or my shoulder gets tired.....whichever comes first.

[imperialbari]

I also have a Conn BBb "New Wonder" helicon ca. 1921, 4-valve, model 32K I think. The bell is stamped "exchanged for new Buescher Elkhart, IND" 8721....so Buesher was prolly pushing a similar product in the early 20th century.

I Love it!

I bought it "with patience and fortitude" (read: after lots of watching and waiting), from tubahed who in turn had bought it from Lee Stofer....I think Lee told me he found it in a barn. It's a little stuffy, but very reliable and very fun to play. I have used it for stand-up community Christmas gigs, church, honky-tonk, Ragtime, etc. Busking with it this Saturday...until the ukulele player stops singing & playing or my shoulder gets tired.....whichever comes first.

Your 32K shouldn’t be stuffy at all. It has the same valve block as my 40K. Harvey Hartmann in a recent thread told about flushing a 40K.

Klaus

[tofu]

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[dmmorris]

Your 32K shouldn’t be stuffy at all. It has the same valve block as my 40K. Harvey Hartmann in a recent thread told about flushing a 40K.

Klaus

I should have said......feels a little stuffy compared to my B&S.

However....I have just read Harvey's thread.....can I say "yuck"......and realized I have not done this. I don't think I have a dead animal in there, but now you have me thinking that this little chore is long over due. The perfect activity for Labour-Day-Weekend. If anything interesting comes-out...I'll let you know.

[Paul Tkachenko]

I've got a Bb from 1960s Kiev in Ukraine.

The valves are simply apalling and held together with rubber bands that I've installed.

It sounds great though. I've only I could persuade someone to replace the valves or sort them out, it would be a great instrument, despite the dreadful build quality.

[ken k]

1919 Pan-American BBb helicon which is basically a Conn. Sounds like the Conn horns from that era might be a pretty safe bet. I just posted a pic of me playing it on the marching tuba thread, so I won't post it again here. It looks just like dmmoris's "New Wonder" but it only has three valves. (If you are really dying to see it here is the link viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35165" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank )
I bought it from Harvey Hartman who had the valves replated and then he lapped them in and rebuilt the horn. It is air tight and plays great. It is very in tune with itself with only one funky note and pretty solid false tones Eb, D, etc.




I always thought those Czerveny helicons were interesting and I would love to play one sometime.

[sloan]

I picked up an Eb peashooter on eBay.

It is engraved only "Symphony", and has had extensive work done on it to make it a reasonably solid player. Significantly flat 2nd partial is the most obvious of it's many intonation challenges.

After some web research, I convinced myself that it was made around 1895 by someone associated with an H N White operation. But...that's very hand-wavy.

I think the current gooseneck leadpipe is the weakest part of it. The receiver accepts modern American shank mouthpiece, but I think the bore steps DOWN after the mouthpiece (can this be good?) I keep dreaming that I'll have someone construct a more "authentic" leadpipe for it - but that would more than double the amount of $$ I have in it.

My son the trombone player usually plays it at TubaChristmas. He likes it OK (but notes that "whatever you buzz...comes out the bell")

[Art Hovey]

I find the Conns to be awkward because of their unnecessarily long bell.

If you want a new helicon the Cerveny is sweet but somewhat fragile:


King made some very nice helicons, but they are rare.
The best helicons ever made were Bueschers, from around 1920.
They were build like tanks, with a shorter bell than the Conns.
Below is a photo of my Buescher; Dave Gannett also has one, in black lacquer with the original valve section. The late Allan Jaffe (Preservation Hall Band) had two; the one he toured with had 4 valves. I believe his son has them now.

Bloke started with the same model and made his into at thing of beauty in CC:

[eupher61]

got my F Cerveny helicon on da Bay. has major problems, still trying to find a mpc that helps with pitch. I have 3 possible goosenecks for it, but this one seems to be the best.

[imperialbari]

I've got a Bb from 1960s Kiev in Ukraine.

The valves are simply apalling and held together with rubber bands that I've installed.

It sounds great though. I've only I could persuade someone to replace the valves or sort them out, it would be a great instrument, despite the dreadful build quality.

One route might be searching a German auction site for helicons, which have their valve block intact, but which come cheap due to extensive damage to the outer branches.

I cannot tell the wrap of yours from the avatar, but here is one of possibly more pitfalls, as not even Cerveny stayed with the same wrapping over the years.

Things to look for are where the main tuning slide is (in the leadpipe or after the valve block) and whether the airpath goes counter-clockwise at some point. Some models are very similar to the main scheme of American sousaphones. Some models are variants on the Schediwa Herkulesophone, which has almost all tubing but for the back bow in front of the player. With the bests of luck you should be able to find a relevant 4 valve block.

Klaus, who kind of regrets not having bought some Russian post-wall-fall surplus stock instruments, when they flooded German eBay right after 2000

[Gongadin]

I also have a Conn BBb "New Wonder" helicon ca. 1921, 4-valve, model 32K I think. The bell is stamped "exchanged for new Buescher Elkhart, IND" 8721....so Buesher was prolly pushing a similar product in the early 20th century.

I Love it!

I bought it "with patience and fortitude" (read: after lots of watching and waiting), from tubahed who in turn had bought it from Lee Stofer....I think Lee told me he found it in a barn.

I'm so glad it's working out for you and that you love the horn! Lee didn't find it in a barn - he got it from another TubeNet member. I had the opportunity to purchase the horn from the same guy, but missed my chance, so I wound up purchasing it from Lee later on for about $400 more! Having said that, however, at least I could be sure that the horn was in great condition after Lee looked it over and fixed whatever needed attention.

[imperialbari]

I've got a Bb from 1960s Kiev in Ukraine.

The valves are simply apalling and held together with rubber bands that I've installed.

It sounds great though. I've only I could persuade someone to replace the valves or sort them out, it would be a great instrument, despite the dreadful build quality.

Drawing on my intelligence network:

The problem is with your valve transmission, not with the rotors. Whether you want a total exchange or just a replacement for the S-links is up to you. In either case TN will be able to give precise advice.

Klaus

[Wyvern]

I was very impressed by this EEEb helicon in the Tuba Restaurant at Okemos, Michigan. Has anyone here played it?

[imperialbari]

I was very impressed by this EEEb helicon in the Tuba Restaurant at Okemos, Michigan. Has anyone here played it?

Is this really a helicon pitched a fifth below the common BBb sousaphones?

There isn’t too much valve tubing to be seen, so I rather see it as a large bell full circle Eb sousaphone pitched like the full circle King and Buescher Eb sousaphones.

Klaus

[Wyvern]

Is this really a helicon pitched a fifth below the common BBb sousaphones?

It was quite noticeably larger than the BBb helicons also on show, so I guess it is?

[Eric B]

By far the most amazing helicon I've had on my shoulder (and in front of my camera lens) is the Cerveny owned by Mr. Lynch at the Tubatorium Museum in Austin. 4v with almost every part of the cluster engraved. The museum is hard to find, but worth the effort..

I've been to Austin many times and didn't know about the Tubatorium Museum. I'll have to check it out!

[David Richoux]

By far the most amazing helicon I've had on my shoulder (and in front of my camera lens) is the Cerveny owned by Mr. Lynch at the Tubatorium Museum in Austin. 4v with almost every part of the cluster engraved. The museum is hard to find, but worth the effort..

I've been to Austin many times and didn't know about the Tubatorium Museum. I'll have to check it out!

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