Old horns with incredibly small bores

[Elow]

Im looking for some horns with a bore of around .460-.472 anyone know of any models or brands that made them, im looking to start a project but need something pretty small for it to work.

[Mv2541]

Conn 2H might be your best bet. Matt Niess plays a pretty small Bach I think (.468?)?

[Vegasbound]

Old boosey pea shooters are .464

[LeTromboniste]

What is the project? That would influence the answer as well.

Whatever you do, please try to avoid cutting 19th century horns and if you can, stick to stencil horns (usually Czech-made) instead of a Courtois, Boosey or Conn. Those small horns are worthless to many trombonists but they are historical pieces, potentially worth collecting and certainly worth playing for some of us. They aren't made anymore so finding a good one that is in condition to play is already hard enough without them being used for hackbut or DIY alto projects. (There was a 1860s Courtois used for a botched hackbut conversion that came up on eBay a couple years ago, I wanted to throw something at the screen.)

[imsevimse]

To find such small horns you need to seek ones made around 1900

1. I have an early Conn from 1904 is .458.
2. I also have a Holton Revelation from 1914 that is .478.
3. Have two Conn 60h C-trombones with bore .458 made in the 20ies

You need a smaller mouthpiece to fit those old leadpipes. I would not do any modification on those horns, they are perfect as they are.

/Tom

[stewbones43]

The old British-Boosey, Hawkes, Besson and Salvation Army- and French-Courtois, Couesnon and Henri Selmer? peashooters are fine but the slides tend to be a bit clunky.
If you can find a Salvation Army "Festival" model, it was a more modern (1950's?) design but had a very small bore. Not sure of the exact size but I suspect it was the same as the old peashooters, i.e. around 0.460in.
They were made in house at the Campfield works in St. Albans which closed in 1972. One of the reasons given for its demise was the refusal to invest in upgraded machinery so that might account for the "Festival" trombone having such a small bore for a relatively modern instrument.
If anyone has a "Festival" trombone, they might be able to measure the bore. They are not common instruments but I think DJ Kennedy might have had one. I got rid of one a few years ago when I discovered that nostalgia was not as good as it used to be.

Cheers

Stewbones43

[BillO]

Conn 2H might be your best bet.

Had one of these for a few years. The slide aside, it played fairly well, good range both dynamically and frequency, if a bit strident and bright. If that's what you are after, then this is your puppy. The metal was thick by today's standards. However, good luck finding one that has a truly playable slide.

The only performance I used it for was a rendition of Gershwin's "Someone to Look Over Me" that had a short trombone solo at a dance we did for the local Legion, as it was a 'period' instrument. Man, it's a good thing that that song is a slow ballad because that slide was in no hurry.