Is the 8D a Kruspe design?
JackH35785
wrap", "Kruspe wrap" . . . . etc.
In January of 1950 I took Marv Howe (horn teacher at U of I in the post WW2
days) and a bunch of other Univ. of Illinois horn players to Elkhart a few
weeks after Conn introduced the 8D. They had invited us to come take a look
see.
I needed a new horn and Carl Geyer wanted too much ($1700) for his horns. He
said because I was his "friend" he'd sell me one for $1500, but I found out
from PF he says that to everybody ! He needs the money to keep his "winter
home" in Florida !
Conn showed us all the original Kruspe prints for their horn and apparently was
intent on linking the 8D to the then popular big horn sound of the Kruspe. They
had laid out a spread of about 10 new horns and asked us to try them out. I
fell for one and gave them their "special" price for this occasion -- $500.
Now, I have seen comments here that say the 8D is NOT considered a "Kruspe look
a like, sound a like."
Please tell me that I've been playing a "Kruspe look a like, sound a like"
since 1950 ! !
Jack
Dr. Mike MItchell
treaked it a bit, but it is Anton Hoerner's Kruspe, executed in nickel
silver (which is another story).
"JackH35785" <jackh...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020422235808...@mb-ce.aol.com...
Mark
manufacture really goes back to 1938/39. Some like to quote 1948 as the
initial production year for the 8D, but apparently this was a reintroduction
or Conn's first major post-WWII attempt at capturing the professional horn
market in the U.S. (something that they did quite well). During WWII Conn
did not make musical instruments (except a few which were hand assembled on
special order from the top service bands) and made precision navigation
instruments for the Navy and other branches of the armed services, so Conn
retooled in a major way after the war.
The legacy of Anton Horner, his horn and his influence on American horn
playing and the influence of his students on American horn playing is a saga
in and of itself.
You are most fortunate indeed to own a vintage 8D selected at the factory at
a time when C.G. Conn was at its zenith as a maker of musical instruments.
People today forget that 500 dollars was a princely sum then, and the price
that you say Carl Geyer quoted you, $1500.00 was the price of a new car !!
What a great story, thank you for sharing.
Mark l.
JackH35785
that you say Carl Geyer quoted you, $1500.00 was the price of a new car !!
What a great story, thank you for sharing. >>
Thanks for the replies - its always fun to "horn talk,"
As a postlude, even though Carl was upset that I wouldn't by his horn he asked
me to still drop by and see him every week or so.
I brought the new horn in and he examined it and said a very short "nice horn"
! Then he said "lets hear it" and "play me some things."
He noticed I was using a Conn #2 and asked to see it.
Then he said, and with a smile of forgiveness, "Well Jack, if you won't play my
horn, the least I can do is to make you a couple of decent mouthpieces."
He turned on his trusty lathe and took a couple of his screw - on caps and
cups, spun some metal and then turned some metal off the rim of my #2 Conn.
VOILA ! Jack now had a couple of Carl's "custom" mouthpieces !
He continued to be a good friend for many years.
I loved his shop - all the tubing hanging from the ceiling - an old fashioned
belt drive facility, maybe a little "untidy" - horn parts laying all around -
doing his "business" from and old wooden table stacked with paper - great fun !
Jack
Mark
That's another interesting anecdote about Carl Geyer. What I find
interesting is according to Milan Yancich, a former Chicago Symphony horn
player, is that he says that Geyer designed the Conn 2 mouthpiece for a
fellow German immigrant craftsman who worked for Conn. So do we have a case
here of Geyer improving on a Geyer design ?
Mark L.
JackH35785
<< Jack,
Mark L. >>
Well now, isn't that curious ! I didn't know that. We did meet some German
fellas in Elkhart but I wouldn't remember names.
Carl had come up with his "screw on" rims and cup assemblies in this time
period. He had about four or five variations of each so that you could take a
particular rim you liked and mate it to several different cup assemblies. I
have a couple of these plus the "re - worked" Conn #2.
Funny, I actually liked the re - worked Conn of all of them but would NEVER
play with it when up at his shop. What he did was to make the rim a tad
narrower which made it a little more flexible for me to move from highs to lows
and vvs.
My problem with his cup assemblies is that, at least the ones he gave me, are
too deep compared to the Conn #2 so when he machined down the rim it made it an
almost perfect mouthpiece for me. Through the years I've tried many different
MP's but I still go back to my "Carl Geyer Special" Conn #2.
Jack