Re: Helicon tubas


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by 2 Helicon Stories on September 09, 2002 at 00:01:44:

In Reply to: Helicon tubas posted by Tim on September 08, 2002 at 09:04:38:

The folks were out antique hunting 20 years ago and were leaving a shop when my dad spots them unloading a Helicon from a van. They plan on selling it as a planter and want $100. Dad knows I had been looking for one, but being cheap he negotiates them down to $50 bucks. Turns out the horn comes out of a local estate where a 95 year old widow had died. The horn is a 1917 Conn BBb and her newlywed husband had just gotten it when he ends up going off to serve in WWI and doesn't come back. She puts it in a closet where it sits until she passes on. When I get the horn the silver plate is black and I spend a week polishing it. The horn was almost mint except the 2nd valve slide is bashed in from being pushed against the wall of the closet. I take the horn to the Brass Bow where they find out Conn still made the exact same slide. Horn plays extremely well except for middle C which is extremely out of tune. I use the horn primarily for jazz gigs where the light weight and flexibilty work well. The valves are increadibly quick and the horn blows very freely with an excellent high and low range. For some reason articulation on this horn is really excellent.

The other Helicon is a Buesher Eb that I get when a french horn playing friend tells me about two years ago. She sees a garage sale ad that lists both a Tuba and a Coffin for sale. So I go and sure enough beyond the usual garage sale stuff is a helicon and a lovely new yellow casket. He wants $500 for each. So I'm talking to the owner who tells me his grandfather was a band director in Michigan and had auditioned for the CSO with the horn. He didn't get the gig, but was told he had the best sound they had ever heard. I'm of course thinking this guy has quite an imagination at this point. The horn is heavily tarnished,dirty and covered with cobwebs etc. from being stored in a barn, but in great shape dent wise. I haggle him down to $100 and take the horn home and put it in the basement. A few days later I put the horn in the car to take it to the Brass Bow to have them do a chemical dip etc. When I do this I notice a few horseflies in the basement which I thought was unusual since I had never seen these before. I'm driving the 40 miles to the shop and the smell of the horn is just horrible, but I'm thinking its just the tarnish etc.

Well 2 hours later I get a frantic call from the guys at the shop. When they dip the horn tons of horseflies, maggots and several dead rats come out. The smell is so bad they have to evacuate the shop and open all the windows and dump all the chemical out. They then discover the effect of the dead rats on the metal of the horn - not good. Two years later and they still have the horn and think they will be finshed by the end of this month.

Don't know how it plays yet. Also don't know if the guy sold the casket or just what he was doing with it in the first place!

Mike I




Follow Ups: