[abadcliche]

Hey guys, I got a pretty cool birthday gift this year from a customer of mine: and original booklet from a 1935 Conn sax and an original Conn pad measuring tool. I scanned them and put high resolution photos up on my website.

Click here to see:Stohrer Music Blog Post: Original 1935 Conn Sax Literature

Click the thumbnails for the high-resolution version. Enjoy!

 

[Dr G]

Thanks!

It is interesting to see the options of ordering "Foil" or "Soft" pads in the text of the guide for using the pad measuring tool.

 

[EE NYC]

Hey Matt,
Just as a point of nerdiness, my 1935 Conn 10 M tenor has a serial number that is only 15 numbers away from the one mentioned in that guarantee literature.

 

[abadcliche]

Ha, cool! Small world.

Dr. G- yep. Now I know why sometimes what seem to be original pads are just skin on felt and sometimes they have a lead foil disc between the two. I thought they might be from different eras, but it seems they coexisted.

 

[paulwl]

"whiting"?

Were you supposed to use fish to clean your sax?

Or just play Japanese Sandman and Sleepy Time Gal before putting it away?

 

[abadcliche]

I wondered what that was too. Apparently its the olde-school name for calcium carbonate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_carbonate

Mexoline was a polish. Only image I could find was an old ad:

 

[paulwl]

I'm not even gonna ask about Putz Pomade.

 

[Hornlip]

I'm not even gonna ask about Putz Pomade.

Ha!! I used to work for a printer's supply company, servicing sheet-fed and web press printers in the Southeast U.S. This was in the early 2000's. We carried Putz Pomade, which printers used to clean metering rolls on their sheet-fed presses, IIRC. We used to joke about waiting around for the fateful day when somebody placed an order for some Putz Pomade and a bung wrench. . . .

 

[Hornlip]

At the end of the pics in the Stohrer post, there's a picture of the pad-measuring ruler and it's cardboard sleeve. I've got one of each of those, came with a Chu alto that I guess counts as the latest version before the "Tranny" horns started appearing; it's got the angled side-F key.

 

[TMadness1013]

Nice find! Funny to think that the Standard Steelay mouthpiece was considered "finest & expensive" - all in all, horns haven't changed too drastically from 1935...mouthpieces sure have - in price, if nothing else.

 

[abadcliche]

Interesting point!

I'd love to find out what the price is, adjusted for inflation, of the Steelay piece.

I also wonder if there were many individual and small-shop mouthpiece makers back then like there are today? Because I would equate the Steelay with something like a Vandoren or (modern) Link piece- mass produced from one of the largest factories around.

 

[paulwl]

I have never figured out what the Steelays "want." I find the alto and tenor pieces very finicky and hard to voice compared to their barrel chamber contemporaries - or even the old Eagle Conns made till about 1935.

One thing I notice is that the rails are unusually thin compared to the chamber size (cavernous) and the height of the beak (quite a mouthful). The Eagles are thicker-railed, lower-beaked - and more responsive to voicing and reed choice.

The bari and clarinet Steelay pieces, however are pretty darned good. Even the very rare soprano piece plays well.

 

[Fader]

I've got a tenor steelay that came with my Chu. Very closed piece.

 

[gary]

Hey thanks, Matt! I enjoyed the break from other stuff to read - and look at - that booklet.

 

[abadcliche]

Glad you like it! Now that I've got a "blog" section on my site compliments of my redesign, I plan to document this sort of neatorama as it comes through.