York Helicon (with pic!) ...not a raincatcher

evan · Post by **evan** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:56 pm

Good afternoon everyone,

I'm pretty excited about this, so I thought I'd share the story:

One of my friends was walking around an estate sale on Sunday afternoon. He wandered into a rather dark back room and saw a tuba hanging on the wall. He thought to himself, "Hey, I've got a friend that plays the tuba," and decided to see what they wanted for it. My friend explained that the tuba was very dirty & needed repair (a couple broken braces, no 2nd valve stem) and offered them $50 for it. They agreed, and now I've got one of these:

Unfortunately it's 600 miles away (at my parents' house), so I can't play it yet. I'm told it is labeled: "J W York and Sons", "Grand Rapids, Michigan", and "1910". The bell is 19.5 inches in diameter, and the 2nd valve is there minus the stem and cap. I'm told that all the valves and slides move. Also, the bell appears to have been gold on the inside.

I guess 1910 is the manufacturing date, not a serial number? I'm also wondering what key it's in... I'll have to get my parents to make more measurments.

My parents think that it's "very dirty" but I still see silver, so I'm thinking it looks great

-Evan

Daniel C. Oberloh · Post by **Daniel C. Oberloh** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:00 pm

This is a hellicon not an RC.

Daniel C. Oberloh

evan · Post by **evan** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:13 pm

Thanks - I fixed it. What is the specific difference? Maybe I've got the definition backwards ... or i just don't know to begin with.

-evan

Daniel C. Oberloh wrote:This is a hellicon not an RC.

Daniel C. Oberloh

Joe Baker · Post by **Joe Baker** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:18 pm

When you shoulder your helicon, the bell will point somewhat upward, somewhat forward, and somewhat to the left -- ie, at an angle on all three axes. A raincatcher adds an elbow just before the bell that redirects it to point STRAIGHT up.

FWIW, I'd rather have a helicon than a raincatcher. If the valves are reparable on the one you've got, it should be a really nice horn. Even if they're not, it's worth a lot more than $50.
______________________
Joe Baker, who thinks the picture will help more than the description.

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:20 pm

Looks to me like it's a BBb.....

Joe Baker · Post by **Joe Baker** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:25 pm

Z-Tuba Dude wrote:Looks to me like it's a BBb.....

You think so? I'm not so sure. Yeah, it has a full body loop, but look at the valve tubing. The first has very little above the valve, the third doesn't loop back on itself, and the second is short enough to point up instead of down. The main tuning slide is practically non-existent!

I'm thinking Eb.
__________________________
Joe Baker, who hastens to deny any real expertise in this area.

Z-Tuba Dude · Post by **Z-Tuba Dude** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:33 pm

Joe Baker wrote:
Z-Tuba Dude wrote:Looks to me like it's a BBb.....
You think so? I'm not so sure. Yeah, it has a full body loop, but look at the valve tubing. The first has very little above the valve, the third doesn't loop back on itself, and the second is short enough to point up instead of down. The main tuning slide is practically non-existent!

I'm thinking Eb.

You may be onto something....now that you are forcing me to look more closely, I've never seen a configuration quite like that!

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 4:42 pm

Looks to me to be an Eb. The leadpipe looks like it may have a high/low pitch loop in it, though I can't really make it out from these pictures. 1910 is most likely a patent date, FWIW. 1910, if it were a seral number, would put the date around 1892, which pre-dates the "and Sons". If someone can find a serial #, it will help enormously to date it, but York dates are not an exact science.

As it is, "J W York and Sons" puts it 1898-1927.
See: John Swain's J.W. York Company Research Site
Unfortunately John passed away in 2003, but the site is being kept up in his memory.

I would guess that a valve stem shouldn't be too hard to come by, if that's the only thing that's missing...

tubeast · Post by **tubeast** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:49 pm

On the pics only a few dents and some more dings are visible.
The bell seems to be in great shape, too.
I donÂ´t know, maybe a mild overhaul will turn out if itÂ´s a good player, and if so it might be worth a reasonable investment to sponsor the artistry of the Bloke kind of people.

MY helicon just might have to wait a decade or two for me to have some money I canÂ´t make use of otherwise...

evan · Post by **evan** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:28 pm

Hey all,

Thanks for the comments...it's very interesting.

I added another pic looking down the bell. You can see the gold coloring from this direction. I'm going to try to get a photo of any text / numbers on the horn next

-Evan