Hot on the heels of acquiring my Pan Am soprano, a C Mel. enters my life. I was seriously considering one from a forum member here in Canada, but passed on it and then saw this one locally (like a 20 min. drive away). It's a Pan Am stencil (thanks Bruce Bailey). Using the Pan Am serial# chart I dated it to 1923, same year as my TrueTone bari. I will add it to the Pan Am thread in the Conn sub-forum.
The owner said he got it from a friend whose grandfather had played it, and was willing to deliver it to my place for me to try out. It plays just fine. A bit of burble on the bell notes, and the neck is slightly loose in the socket. As with many rarely played C Mel's. it's in very good shape with no dents, solder repairs and even the silver finish is excellent. The original case is good too, though the strap is gone.
It came with a Woodwind Co. NY tenor mouthpiece. No facing mark on it in the usual spot that I can see. Needs a good helping of cork grease to get it on far enough to play in tune, but once there the horn seems remarkably stable intonation-wise.
The owner said he got it from a friend whose grandfather had played it, and was willing to deliver it to my place for me to try out. It plays just fine. A bit of burble on the bell notes, and the neck is slightly loose in the socket. As with many rarely played C Mel's. it's in very good shape with no dents, solder repairs and even the silver finish is excellent. The original case is good too, though the strap is gone.
It came with a Woodwind Co. NY tenor mouthpiece. No facing mark on it in the usual spot that I can see. Needs a good helping of cork grease to get it on far enough to play in tune, but once there the horn seems remarkably stable intonation-wise.