Conn tenor - What Model & How Old?

[Rockford]

My Conn tenor has a patent date of Dec. 8 1914 and a patent number of what looks like 1119954 (although it might be 119954). The serial number begins 261xxx and has an 'M' in front of it, although the M is slightly out of alignment.

There is also a 'T' above the serial number and an 'L' below it. What does this mean?

It also has a small woman's head engraved on the bell and the engraving 'Made by C.G. Conn Ltd, Elkhart Indiana'. It's also silver.

Does anybody know how old it might be - friends have previously said 1930s or 1960s.

I believe it was imported into the UK by La Fleur of London, if that helps identify the age and model.

[saxmanglen]

Take a look at this site and find your serial #.

http://www.petethomas.co.uk/saxophone-serial-numbers.html


I appears your horn is btween 1934 and 1935.

The 'T' indicates Tenor.

The 'L' indicates a low pitch horn tuneable to A=440. Unlike high pitch 'H' horns that aren't desireable for group playing.

[Rockford]

Saxmanglen,

Thanks for the clarification! I had looked at the site you mentioned and a few others, but the 'M' was confusing me, as some sites seem to suggest that an 'M' prefix is late 1960s.

[saxmanglen]

You deffinitely have a mid 30's horn and much more desireable than the Mexiconns that were being made in the 60's and 70's.

[docformat]

rockford - there are some conn experts on here (paulwl for example) who can give you the real skinny but in the meantime i might be able to help you out a little.

my tenor is 259xxx and was made in 1932/3 so its reasonable to assume that yours is from marginally later - but still in the early 30's. this would probably make your sax a 'transitional' model i.e. between the New Wonder and the 10m. does it have bell keys on the right or are they split? when both bells were moved to the right of the horn is usually regarded as the point when the horn became a 10m (i think - someone can correct me otherwise). the T means tenor - the L means low pitch which just means normal pitch in today's parlance.

if you're looking for value i paid £1100 for mine from Howarths which is probably a bit on the heavy side - but is a fair price for such a good horn IMO.

[docformat]

doh!

must type faster!

[Dave dix]

M261K is from 1934 and the last of the transitional horns and the horn of choice by Chu Berry .It may have split bell keys or same sided as conn were changing the designs around that time.
The other horns with a letter M infront of the serial number were from 1969 ,1968 had letter L etc, just a different way for dating as conn was running out of numbers
Dave

[bruce bailey]

The M meant a sax as D was a French horn, H a trombone, O a flute, etc. Check out the Conn Loyalist site for a bunch of Conn info.

[Rockford]

Docformat - The bell keys are split - one on each side. Does the engraving of the woman's head and shoulders suggest it's an M model, or do transitional models have this too?

[docformat]

do you mean 10m model? i wouldn't worry too much about the M before the serial no. - like bruce says its just for inventory.

the engraving you mentioned is the 'ladyface' that conn 10m's are often referred to as. however i don't think there an absolute date as to when the engravings first started appearing - so yes trannies can have this engraving as well. my understanding of it is that the split bell keys were a feature of the New Wonder or 'chu berry' models whereas the 10m's had both bell keys on the right of the bell. that would make yours a transitional.

others may differ

[docformat]

try this link

http://www.xs4all.nl/~cderksen/ConnLooksSax.html

the pics may help

(cheers bruce)

[Rockford]

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I bought the sax when I was just starting out at a time when the only thing I knew was that Conn made good horns. I was curious to what model it was because many of the discussions on refer to different models - I'm now clear on what I have got!

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play it in ages - but am now rekindling our relationship... I'm hooked again already!

[Dave dix]

Technically you have a new wonder series 2 as transitional was a made up name. Great horns and i own one myself
Dave

[bruce bailey]

Sounds like a terrible horn. Send it to me NOW and I will send you one of the famous Mexiconns which must be better since they are imported.