TromboneChat

Hi everyone, I have had this 88H for many years now but I am struggling to identify exactly how old it is. The serial number on the slide places it as an Elkhart, but I’m struggling to identify the serial number on the bell section. I attached some pictures to help. Thanks!

Can you find a serial number on the bell section?

Also, is "Cobb" a typo and you mean "Conn"?

Elkart bell engravings did not include the 88H model number. They would just say "Conn, Elkhart Ind." The engraving is relatively modern.

That engraving isn’t old Elkhart, as far as I can see. It looks like what was used on Gen II Conns like my Greenhoe Conn. The valve cap also looks 90s or later and it seems to have remnants of the orange lacquer UMI used in the 90s(?).

This is about 20 - 30 years old. Definitely not Elkhart. Engraving and screw in leadpipe give it away. Plus valve cap and lacquer on valve cap.

Yes, Cobb was my phone trying to tell me it was time for dinner. Lol. The screw in lead pipe is after market that I had installed. The serial number on the slide starts with R so I’m confident that is Elkhart, the bell section looks like it says 511xxx, but I can’t find where that fits in the chart so I think numbers might be missing.

Col. Cobb. Also invented the Cobb salad.

The Cobb salad is a main-dish American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens, tomato, crisp bacon, fried chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette.

Definitely a Gen II bell and slide, the wrap looks like the era just before the Gen II came out. Look at the trigger and string linkage. A pieced together horn or a weird in-between series leftover parts? Another thought. Maybe the slide outer is Elkhart (your serial #), inners, grip, bell Gen II, wrap 90’s UMI.

The slide is an R serial number so I definitely believe it’s an Elkhart. I had the inner tubes replaced and had the Saturn water key and lead pipes installed. The bell section has a serial number that looks like it is 511xxx, but I can’t find this on the serial number chart I’ve been looking at and that’s why I’m not sure. I definitely think it’s some sort of frankenhorn.

Not sure what the question was - the original post has disappeared!
(Inadvertently deleted by OP when changing Subject typo?)

Posaunus wrote: ↑Wed Sep 29, 2021 7:44 pm Not sure what the question was - the original post has disappeared!
(Inadvertently deleted by OP when changing Subject typo?)

Somehow it got un-approved. Fixed.

Slide may have been Elkhart but with the mods etc it kind of isn’t anymore and the bell is as others said definitely not Elkhart

That bell section was probably not made in Elkhart. The wrap, valve link details, horizontal brace details, and valve cover all seem to be a bit different from my late Elkhart model.

"R" serial number indicates manufactured in 1972. But 1972 was a transition year, as the factory was being moved from Elkhart, IN to Abilene, TX. Most of that year's production was a hybrid, with some being "true Elkharts," but most were final assembly Abilene / parts from Elkhart or Abilene. Your bell engraving is different than earlier Elkhart bells, and also different (decoratively) from other 1972-era bells. I think all 1972 88Hs were engraved "CONN / MADE in U.S.A" with much less elaborate decoration.

If your slide S/N is R2xxxx, it could be 1972 Elkhart. If it's R3xxxx or greater, it's probably 1972 Abilene. You may have some sort of hybrid (from different years), but my guess is that everything is Abilene. (Where on the bell is your bell S/N located?)

Valve is definitely not from Elhkhart or even Abilene. I'd say mid-late 90s and made in Cleveland. I had one and it was a great player.

This is an Eastlake, Ohio horn. There simply isn't a good record publicly available for the serial numbers used for the Eastlake production.

When the 88HTG was being assembled at Greenhoe, Conn sent a quantity of pre-stamped, non-sequential serial numbered cross braces for us to use. I know there were a bunch left over!

Thanks everyone for the help! Like I said, I've had this horn for many years (almost 10) but I've never been quite sure how old it was. When I originally bought it in high school I was told it was and Elkhart based off the slide and I did not know any better until I was in college and someone saw me playing it out in public and said the 90's too. I was hoping to pinpoint a more specific year but after reading all of the replies it seems that might be tough.

Where on the slide is the serial number? On an Elkhart I had, it was on the cork barrel and on the outer slide stamped into the top of one of the oversleeves. On Eastlakes I've had, there is a number on one or more of the cross braces, not on the cork barrel.

ChadA wrote: ↑Thu Sep 30, 2021 7:14 am Where on the slide is the serial number? On an Elkhart I had, it was on the cork barrel and on the outer slide stamped into the top of one of the oversleeves. On Eastlakes I've had, there is a number on one or more of the cross braces, not on the cork barrel.

It is on the bottom of the slide on the cork barrel. I also found what I think is a different serial number on the bell section on bracing on the back bottom of the bell.