TromboneChat

I am interested to know the bell material and construction of my 1992 Eastlake Conn 88H. It appears to be one piece (there is no brazed joint at the bell flare like my old Elkhart two piece.) The brass seems thicker and perhaps less red (lower copper content?) than the Elkhart. Does this sound right?

90-10 red brass
The flare is welded to the stem. So you will see a seam from the top of the stem, down to about 4" from the flare, where it stops abruptly. Yes, the material starts out heavier than that used in Elkhart. The rim is also soldered.

I see the seam you describe that stops abruptly about 4” from the flare. Why is there not a radial seam where the flare was attached to the stem like my Elkhart 88H had?

TboneLeesMills wrote: ↑Tue May 06, 2025 3:34 pm I see the seam you describe that stops abruptly about 4” from the flare. Why is there not a radial seam where the flare was attached to the stem like my Elkhart 88H had?

It's just not as obvious on the more modern bells.

The radial seam is not visible because a different technique, welding, is used to join the flare to the stem.

Thanks!

I have seen at least one Eastlake 88H with a gold brass bell.

It’s also a completely different taper than the gen 1 conns.

The bell on my 1992 88H Eastlake horn appears less red than my Elkhart. Superficially, it looks more like gold brass. However, looking at the unfinished inside of the bell, it is clearly dark red brass. The cause is the gold tinted King lacquer, which also makes the nickel silver tubes of the F attachment appear slightly yellow.

TboneLeesMills wrote: ↑Wed May 14, 2025 6:29 am The bell on my 1992 88H Eastlake horn appears less red than my Elkhart. Superficially, it looks more like gold brass. However, looking at the unfinished inside of the bell, it is clearly dark red brass. The cause is the gold tinted King lacquer, which also makes the nickel silver tubes of the F attachment appear slightly yellow.

Yeah, that era they were using that orange colored lacquer on Conns which changes what the brass looks like.

I can see the true color of the different brass materials where the gold lacquer is scratched though (or in the case of the inside of the bell, where it was never lacquered.) Where it’s scratched, I can easily distinguish the copper colored red brass, the yellow brass, and the nickel silver brass. By the way, the outer slides on my ‘92 88H are yellow brass, not red like the Elkhart.