Discontinued Trombone Model Specifications

Mount Vernon-era instruments are highly-prized by collectors, particularly those rare examples that are in good condition. Elkart instruments have also been very good until the late 1980s. Sadly, the previously high standard of quality control declined in the 1990s - there have been complaints of instances of shoddy workmanship. Bach aficionados will generally keen to point out that most Bachs are good instruments, however. The trick, it seems, is to play test a few examples to make sure you're getting one of the good ones.

New! Gordon Cherry has very kindly given permission for his Bach trombone serial number list to be reproduced on this site. Click here here to view it.

Note on serial numbers: If you're looking to date your Besson instrument by looking at serial number lists available on the internet, you should be aware that there are two different lists. One relates to Besson (London) instruments and the other to Besson (Paris) ones. Additionally, it seems that Kanstul and The Allied Company (I'm not familiar with the latter) in the USA produced Besson instruments for which serial numbers are not available (but which were similar to that used on instruments produced by B&H at their Edgware plant).

Gordon Cherry has very kindly given permission for his B&H trombone serial number list to be reproduced on this site. Click here here to view it.

New! Stewart Stunell has recently e-mailed me some information about the 10.10, Besson International, Besson Stratford, Besson New Standard, Besson Academy and Sessionaire ranges.

In 1969, the Greenleaf family sold the company to the MacMillan Company, a publisher of books. The years under MacMillan ownership were something of a disaster, a dark age for Conn. MacMillan relocated Conn�s headquarters in Illinois, deliberately destroying historical records in the process, leading to loss of a (now) priceless and irreplaceable treasure trove of information about older Conn instruments. A fine new instrument factory in Elkhart was sold to Selmer (Vincent Bach instruments are now produced there) while Conn�s own instrument manufacturing was largely moved to Abilene, Texas, to take advantage of lower labour costs. However, MacMillan failed to appreciate that instrument manufacture is a labour-intensive process requiring a skilled workforce not to be found in Abilene. The first few years in Abilene were essentially learning ones for the new staff, and hence quality of output was very variable. Generally, Abilene-produced instruments have a poor reputation, although it is possible to find examples of good quality.

In 1980, the former Conn employee Daniel Henkin purchased the Conn Corporation from MacMillan. Amongst his achievements were to bring the company back to Elkhart and the purchase of King Musical Instruments. Conn and King were sold in 1985 to Skane Gripen, a Swedish conglomerate, which formed a new parent company, United Musical Instruments (UMI), under whose umbrella Conn and King remain today. The Abilene plant was closed the following year and production of Conn-badged instruments moved to Eastlake, Ohio, where King instruments were being made. Both King and Conn instruments produced in the following decade are generally considered by enthusiasts to be ordinary in terms of quality and character. In the late 1990s, however, UMI has made great strides in improving its manufacture of instruments. The updated Conn 88H models (�Generation II? in particular have come in for considerable praise, being likened by some professionals to be every bit as good as (if not better than) their Elkhart counterparts (click here to read a review on the 88H Gen2 series). It also appears that Conn may be reintroducing or improving old Conn favourites, eg the 62H.

Note: Older Conn trombones had Remington-style leadpipes which will only accept mouthpieces with Remington shanks. Newer instruments and retrofitted older instruments have leadpipes with a (Bach-style) Morse taper and hence will accept modern mouthpieces with standard shanks.

New! Gordon Cherry has very kindly given permission for his Conn trombone serial number list to be reproduced on this site. Click here here to view it.

New! According to Don Bilger, Conn also manufactured trombones under the Pan American and Cavalier brand names. He wasn't sure of the dates for Cavaliers, but Pan American production apparently ran from around 1917 to 1954 and the Pan American serial numbers don't mesh with the Conn serial number list (no source that correlates Pan American serial numbers with production dates is known). The Pan Americans he saw were all small straight tenors with .485" bores and 7" bells. There was a basic model sometimes called a 64H, and a more deluxe model with nickel trim termed the 68H. Both were reportedly modelled on the 4H professional-grade trombone.

New! Gordon Cherry has very kindly given permission for his Holton trombone serial number list to be reproduced on this site. Click here here to view it.

Henderson White passed away in 1940, and his wife took over the running of his company for the next 25 years. The company flourished under her direction, and in 1964, opened a new factory in Eastlake, Ohio. When Mrs White retired in 1965, the company was sold to a group of investors who sold it on to The Seeburg Corporation (then a major electronics manufacturer). At this point, the HN White Company was renamed King Musical Instruments. In 1985, King was sold to its current owners, UMI, who appear to be positioning the King marque as their jazz line (with Conn as their "symphonic" line).

The 1930s to the 1960s are considered to be vintage years for King trombones. Consensus is that quality dipped between from the 1970s thru the late 1980s or early 1990s, although well-made examples from that era can be found. In recent years, the quality of King trombones have improved to the point that the most recent King 2Bs and 3Bs, like their 30s-60s counterparts, are once again being regarded by many as being premier jazz instruments. The Duo Gravis bass trombone was is also prized by collectors, albeit not for use in modern symphonic music. Many legendary trombonists (eg Tommy Dorsey, JJ Johnson, Kai Winding and Jiggs Whigham) used King trombones for a significant part - or even all - of their careers.

Some of the information below was obtained from scans of 1932 and 1939 King catalogues very kindly provided by Michael Shoshani.

1939 King regular bell finish options:

Finish II "Silver Gold": Silver-plated, inside of bell gold-plated. Richly-engraved. Inside of bell, ferrules, engraving design, braces, points, cork rings and water key are hand-burnished.

Finish III "Silver Gold Trimmed": Silver-plated. Inside of bell, engraving design, ferrules, points, water key are gold-plated and hand-burnished.

Finish IV "Gold Satin Finish": Heavily gold plated, special engraving design. Inside of bell, ferrules, engraving design, points, cork rings and water key are hand-burnished.

Finish V "Brass Highly Polished": Highly polished brass. Ferrules, points, trimmings, cork rings and hand-held parts of nickel-silver.

Finish V-G "Brass Gold Lacquer Finish".

Finish V-T "Brass Transparent Lacquer Finish".

Artist Special: Very heavily gold-plated, extremely richly engraved. Entire bell, handgrip, cork rings, ferrules and trimmings on slide burnished.

De Luxe: The most highly-decorated finish - heavily gold-plated, richly and intricately engraved. Bell, handgrip, ferrules, trimmings on slide and cork rings burnished.

1939 King sterling bell finish options: Finishes II, V (also V-G, V-T) and Artist Special, as for regular bells.

Note: UMI-produced Kings are not burnished. The process of burnishing, accomplished by rubbing metal with a burnishing stone, makes the metal smooth and shiny.

The only Martin model currently in production is the fabulous Urbie Green tenor trombone. Previous Martin pro ranges included the Committee and Imperial. Indianas were all student models, to the best of my knowledge. Martin trombones have distinctive "straight" (single diameter) bell braces.

Early in the history of FE Olds, there were essentially two ranges: Standard and Military. Towards the middle of the century, the number of ranges proliferated. In ascending order of prestige (generally-speaking), they were the: Ambassador, Special, Studio, Super, Recording, Opera, Custom. Amongst the bass trombones, the Super and Custom were considered the superior lines, particularly the George Roberts model.

A significant amount of the information about Olds trombones below was very kindly provided by Eric Burger.

New! Gordon Cherry has very kindly given permission for his Olds trombone serial number list to be reproduced on this site. Click here here to view it.

Early exports did not impress, but eventually, the firm gained a reputation for sterling quality control and cheap student trombones that represented excellent value-for-money. In the 1970s, Yamaha began producing clones of popular Western professional models. These instruments which were widely regarded as almost as good but significantly cheaper than their Western counterparts. By the mid-1980s, however, Yamaha had started to design (utilising advice from professional Western musicians employed as consultants) and introduce their own top-class instruments into the market. By all accounts, these have been very well received by trombonists all over the world.