Jazzbrass
02-15-2007, 02:58 PM
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Location: Paris (France)
Hello,
I had yesterday an appointment at the « Mediathèque » of the Music Museum in Paris.
They have two Couesnon catalogues: one from 1915, the second from 1934.
The first one has 296 pages because Couesnon at this time made all kind of instruments: brass, woodwind, piano, strings, drums and so on, the second “only” 130 pages because strings were in a separated catalogue.
In the first one I learned that in 1915, the Couesnon lines were (I keep the original French name but translate and shorten the given explanations)
- Modèle Classique, Série SO (Beginners horn)
- Modèle Universel, Série CGO (better horns than the previous serie)
- Modèle National, Série BO (better than the previous serie but with a smaller bore)
- Modèle GMN Armée (2 keys instruments for the army)
- Modèle BN Armée (only in one key and “freer blowing” than GMN)
- Modèle Opéra, série HN (good intonation and powerful)
- Modèle Monopole (the best they made)
At this time, they made only one Monopole Flugel in Eb and one Monopole Flugel in Bb. And in this catalogue, the reference number was something like 4H. Nothing to do with our numbers.
In the 1934 catalogue, the lines are reduced.
There is
- Série A
- Série B
- Série C
- Série Monopole and inside this serie 2 modeles "Monopole Conservatoire » (Bb and Eb)
From Série A to Monopole, the horn quality and equipment improve as you can see in the picture 1 below, regarding Saxhorns.
In this catalogue, there is a “sum up” of Flugelhorns. In picture 2 you can see that the Monopole Flugels are numbered 123, 139, 140. The differences are the number of waterkeys and the keys. If you have a 126, you have a serie A. Strange enough the 140 is said “C and Bb, 2 waterkeys” but I am not sure of the reel meaning of “C and Bb” (did they mean “or”?). Why are the 127 and 140 (both C and Bb) not on the picture?
The new “Modèle Conservatoire” are numbered 141 and 138 “with the new 1932 bore to provide a perfect intonation of the upper E”. As far as I understand what I read elsewhere, the 1932 bore is larger than the previous one. Thus if you have a 141 Bb “Monopole Conservatoire”, you can assume its bore is larger than a Monopole 140 one (provided there was no classification changes since 1934…).
There is no information about the letter on the second valve. But I wonder if it could not be the “finish” because it is the last significant “parameter” explicitly quoted by Couesnon in the 2 catalogues (not a word about the bores size in mm for instance, no mouthpiece width or throat but lot of details on the finish).
At this time they had 7 finishes:
- Nickel-plated
- Mat Silver
- Mat Silver with burnished bell
- “Sand” Silver with golden bell
- Lacquered with “Monolac” (“transparent”)
- Lacquered with “Silverlac”
- Lacquered with “Goldlac”
I would not be surprised if N means “Monolac”…
I have no information about the numbers on the mouthpipe or the serial number.
Last information (a breaking news): Mr A.Couesnon met Mr C.G. Conn in Elkhart on the 09/25/1911.
In the catalogue, there is a picture of the two men shaking hands…
Location: Paris (France)
Hello,
I had yesterday an appointment at the « Mediathèque » of the Music Museum in Paris.
They have two Couesnon catalogues: one from 1915, the second from 1934.
The first one has 296 pages because Couesnon at this time made all kind of instruments: brass, woodwind, piano, strings, drums and so on, the second “only” 130 pages because strings were in a separated catalogue.
In the first one I learned that in 1915, the Couesnon lines were (I keep the original French name but translate and shorten the given explanations)
- Modèle Classique, Série SO (Beginners horn)
- Modèle Universel, Série CGO (better horns than the previous serie)
- Modèle National, Série BO (better than the previous serie but with a smaller bore)
- Modèle GMN Armée (2 keys instruments for the army)
- Modèle BN Armée (only in one key and “freer blowing” than GMN)
- Modèle Opéra, série HN (good intonation and powerful)
- Modèle Monopole (the best they made)
At this time, they made only one Monopole Flugel in Eb and one Monopole Flugel in Bb. And in this catalogue, the reference number was something like 4H. Nothing to do with our numbers.
In the 1934 catalogue, the lines are reduced.
There is
- Série A
- Série B
- Série C
- Série Monopole and inside this serie 2 modeles "Monopole Conservatoire » (Bb and Eb)
From Série A to Monopole, the horn quality and equipment improve as you can see in the picture 1 below, regarding Saxhorns.
In this catalogue, there is a “sum up” of Flugelhorns. In picture 2 you can see that the Monopole Flugels are numbered 123, 139, 140. The differences are the number of waterkeys and the keys. If you have a 126, you have a serie A. Strange enough the 140 is said “C and Bb, 2 waterkeys” but I am not sure of the reel meaning of “C and Bb” (did they mean “or”?). Why are the 127 and 140 (both C and Bb) not on the picture?
The new “Modèle Conservatoire” are numbered 141 and 138 “with the new 1932 bore to provide a perfect intonation of the upper E”. As far as I understand what I read elsewhere, the 1932 bore is larger than the previous one. Thus if you have a 141 Bb “Monopole Conservatoire”, you can assume its bore is larger than a Monopole 140 one (provided there was no classification changes since 1934…).
There is no information about the letter on the second valve. But I wonder if it could not be the “finish” because it is the last significant “parameter” explicitly quoted by Couesnon in the 2 catalogues (not a word about the bores size in mm for instance, no mouthpiece width or throat but lot of details on the finish).
At this time they had 7 finishes:
- Nickel-plated
- Mat Silver
- Mat Silver with burnished bell
- “Sand” Silver with golden bell
- Lacquered with “Monolac” (“transparent”)
- Lacquered with “Silverlac”
- Lacquered with “Goldlac”
I would not be surprised if N means “Monolac”…
I have no information about the numbers on the mouthpipe or the serial number.
Last information (a breaking news): Mr A.Couesnon met Mr C.G. Conn in Elkhart on the 09/25/1911.
In the catalogue, there is a picture of the two men shaking hands…