TromboneChat

What's the consensus on a conn 26H? Can't find much online. I got it soaking to clean right now, haven't gotten a chance to play it, but got it for free to pass on to a student of mine. Looks like 30s vintage. Minus a little bit of inner slide wear right on the end of one on the inners, real nice shape. Thanks!

Wow, I'd never heard of it. Rose brass, ball-room (bell set back) 500 bore 7.5" bell...Built 1928-48
https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/Conn26H1928image.html

Lucky student. Hope they appreciate what it is. Similar one sold on Reverb for $1750 2 years ago,

Everything I run across says "rare" so that might be more of a collector's item than an everyday use horn. But that's just from a quick search. There was a FB post from Brassark from 2012 that came up about having one in stock and he seems to deal mostly with rare and valuable horns. Plus the Reverb sale mentioned above.

these should be pretty nice! no real guess as to the value of the horn as horns rarely seen of this nature could float across a large range of possible values. I recall a conn enthusiast friend of mine mentioning to me in passing that in an old catalog these were marketed alongside the 22h/24h as pro horns. now how this particular model holds up today, i dont know because I haven't played one, but it should be a fun instrument for your student and perhaps if you mention it's rarity and historical properties, it might send him down a rabbit hole and capture their attention even more.

I'd love to try that one out. If it shares the 24H vibe, it would be a treat!

A quick Pic after round 2 of soaking and cleaning

It's a rare model, but people DO look out for them. It's worth 4 figures for sure. I'd ask $1500 and see what happens. A student would be better off taking the proceeds and buying something modern.

The only person I know who owns one is Paul Ferguson in Cleveland.

I own one, in satin silver from around 1928. I'm not good at describing tone or playing characteristics, but I'd say it has a "solid" tone. It definitely shares the vibe of my 1930s 24H, it just feels and sounds one size bigger. Like the 24H and the other "ballroom" models, the bell is very slightly closer to the player than on most trombones (so the tuning slide goes back very slightly farther), but it's hardly enough to notice. Compared to the usual post-war 6H, I think it has a heavier bell, but I haven't seen or played a 6H in a while.

I don't exactly use mine as an everyday trombone (since almost all of my small-bore playing is outdoors in parades or festivals and the 26H is too nice for those), but I think it can totally work in a modern context. Last year in my orchestra, I used it for Ellington's "Black Brown and Beige" and also for the first part in Mahler 1 (the rest of the section was scaled down too). I don't know how appropriate that was, but the director didn't have any negative comments about our sound.

Since I bought mine (at Dillon's, maybe 10 or 12 years ago), I think I've only seen one or two for sale (on BrassArk probably), so they definitely seem to be rare. If it's in good condition and plays well, then I agree that Dave's $1500 estimate seems reasonable.

-Ben