Description

Conn 2B New World Symphony S/n 242115 Highly Engraved “00” Gold Finish Circa 1928

Quadruple gold plate, completely hand burnished, bell richly engraved, finger tips pearl inlaid,

Who is the woman depicted in the bell engraving?

The Many Faces of Lady M

https://connsortia.site/home/the-many-faces-of-lady-m/

Notice that this instrument has a feature that is rather unusual for Conn trumpets: a first slide saddle. This is the only Conn trumpet I know of with that feature. Some 2B’s, as was common in the 1920’s, don’t have a right hand pinky hook. The finish on this instrument is what Conn at the time would have called a “Finish #00”: “Quadruple gold plate, completely hand burnished, bell richly engraved, finger tips pearl inlaid”. At the time the 2B was Conn’s top model trumpet. It had a #1½ bore (0.458″) and top spring valves. The 2B New World Symphony was produced between 1926 and 1932.

1900’s – 1940’s Conn cornet and trumpet bore size descriptions

I understand from Brad Goode’s website that when the sound of the “French” style of trumpet fell out of favor, Conn responded by making the 2B. Apparently it was originally designed for members of the Philadelphia Orchestra as an 0.458″ bore version of the 22B New York Symphony but with the difference that the radius of the tuning slide was wider. The effect of this design change gave the player a more open, round sound, and allowed for a more open feeling to the scale.

What Conn said in 1927:
“New World Symphony 2-B Trumpet Destined to Become Most Popular Trumpet in the World”.
Flexibility of scale never before attained in any other trumpet, a superb “trumpet tone” without one blatant crack or trace of “squeel” from low F to the top of the scale, rich and solid in fortissimo and zephyr-like in pianissimo, faultless intonation throughout the complete range! “Most perfect trumpet the world has ever seen” is the way some of the most celebrated symphony and concert artists have charaterized our new 2-B trumpet.

What Conn said in 1931:
This is a medium bore trumpet with a bell made of one-piece French brass, giving this instrument unusual resonance and responsiveness. When first introduced, this trumpet was adopted by the complete trumpet section of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and each year since then has consistently increased in popularity among symphony orchestras, concert bands and soloists. Artists make particular mention of its unusual flexibility of scale and its superb trumpet tone. Has finger hook and special screw mechanism for setting valve slides when changing from Bb to A. Built in Bb and A.

The instrument is 19½” long, weighs 2¼ lbs and has a 4 5/8″ bell.

A few remarks
Some instruments, mostly from the 1920’s, have either a star (“*”) or the letter “B” stamped near the serial number. Current thinking is that these marks indicate a non-standard alloy, probably only of the bell. The suspicion is that a star indicates a gold brass bell (higher copper content), while a “B” indicates a “French brass” bell. None of this is confirmed at the moment (July 2009). Serial numbers with a “V” engraved after the serial number are factory seconds.

Conn “Finishes”

Conn Finishes

A few words on engravings

Over the years Conn offered many different “finishes” for their instruments. A “finish” is the way the instrument was plated, lacquered, etc. Conn had the habit of following the model number with a finish number, such as “22-B-4”. Follows a table with some of the finishes available over the years. Not all finishes were available during the entire history of Conn, so I have included an approximate date indication.

“What you should know about this instrument”: 1928 booklet