[tcurry]

I picked a Conn New Wonder Bari back in February for $30 off of Craigslist. It was all in pieces (the guy thought it was a tenor) and had been spray painted at some point. Once I removed the the horrid gold paint I found USQMC (United States Quarter Master Corp) engraved on the bell. I also noticed a slight banana curve to the body and some shoddy solder work so I figure I would have that taken care before I attempted to put it back together. I ended up making a deal with a shop owner (friend of mine) that I would pay ($350) for the mandrel he needed to straighten the body and he would also level the tone holes, clean up the solder work and fabricate some needed braces. It ended up that the shop that he bought the mandrel from shut down due to Covid and did not ship it until late august. Soooooo..... after more that half a year of waiting I can now say........ IT'S ALIVE!!!!

 

[Sigmund451]

Sweet! And certainly worth the wait.

 

[datsaxman]

Very cool! How does it play??

 

[JayeLID]

Keyed up to Eb, correct ? And the neck pip is one the side ?

A labor of love, for sure...looks very nice...I am sure it sounds great. How is the intonation up and down ?

What did you use to remove the paint, BTW ?

 

[tcurry]

Need a few more tweaks but it plays very well. Nedd to get used to the ergonomics. Big booming bottom end but kind of thin up top.
I have flat resonators and an RPC mouthpiece (for now).

 

[tcurry]

Keyed up to Eb, correct ? And the neck pip is one the side ?

A labor of love, for sure...looks very nice...I am sure it sounds great. How is the intonation up and down ?

What did you use to remove the paint, BTW ?

Need a few more tweaks but it plays very well. Nedd to get used to the ergonomics. Big booming bottom end but kind of thin up top.
I have flat resonators and an RPC mouthpiece (for now).

I used CitriStrip and followed up with Tarnex and Hagarty. Pip is on the neck (silly but functional) and goes to Eb with no spit valve.

 

[turf3]

Water valve can ben installed easily and cheaply - same as trumpet ones.

I had this done on my bass saxophone. I sure wasn't going to turn that beast over and over to drain it.

 

[datsaxman]

Yeah. Ick. Get a dang valve put on.

 

[milandro]

beautiful work , I had a similar one many years ago stencilled under the Bruno Perfection brandname, was the very first Baritone that I've ever touched.

about draining valves you could install an automatic draining valve. They dorn't require opening and closing

JoyKey

Der JoyKey ist der einzige vollautomatische Wasserklappe für Blechblas- und mancher Holzblasinstrumente.

thejoykey.de

I think I will publish a special thread for this (here a video about installing this on a baritone)

 

[tcurry]

Thanks for the idea but I not sure how any spit valve would work due to a rib right where it needs to go.

 

[turf3]

You put it just a bit off to the side. Maybe you have to tilt the horn a bit to drain the loop. No biggie.

 

[milandro]

yes, chances are that you are playing with the horn slightly tilted forward anyway

 

[milandro]

the advantage of working on silver is that you don’t burn any lacquer if you need to remove the pigtail ( curl)

 

[Grumps]

...and an RPC mouthpiece (for now).

I play an RPC rollover on mine (1920) which has an extended shank (5 1/2" total length). Great match for my ancient Conn. Glad to see it back to life.

 

[datsaxman]

Yes, offset the valve to the side enough to clear the seam.