Saxophone Forum


by Blake_Thiel
(8 posts)
8 years ago

Conn Baritone???

Hello! So I've been playing bari with my local community college's jazz band on what I think is a Conn 12M bari that I'm borrowing from my neighbor. He told me it was just some old student horn his son doubled on in high school. The thing is it plays beautifully for just and old student horn. Because of this I've been doing some research on it. The only engraving on it though is a serial number. Is this typical of Conn bari's? I wonder about it being a Conn because the various images I've compared it to (specifically Conn 12M's) seems strikingly similar in appearance. 

I'm no expert in this so please help me out in this as I'd like to be able to inform the guy I'm borrowing it from of its true value if it's actually worth something. Thanks!

 Pictures are included of the bari I'm using for visual reference. 

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  1. by GFC
    (842 posts)

    8 years ago

    Re: Conn Baritone???

    Your horn looks more like a Conn New Wonder than a 12M.  The 12M has same side bell keys.  Yours has split bell keys.  The LH cluster doesn't don't look like either New Wonder or 12M.  Conn made their low C guard look like a Mercedes-Benz logo, so if yours resembles that it's another Conn feature.  

    Your horn seems to have been made as a second line horn to be sold under a merchandiser's brand.  In this case, the merchandiser never engraved their brand.   Nickel plated keywork started showing up on student horns some years after the split bell keys were replaced by the same side bell keys on Conns.  It seems likely to me that Conn got an order for a student bari after a hiatus in producing such horns, made the body with the old New Wonder tooling, and made a batch of non-standard parts for that run.

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    1. by Blake_Thiel
      (8 posts)

      8 years ago

      Re: Conn Baritone???

      Okay that makes a lot more sense. Thank you so much!

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