Posted by Bryan Cass on July 03, 2001 at 09:08:42:
I play a silver, 4-valve Buescher Helicon (serial #50755 - made in 1919) in a city band in Vergennes, VT. The poor thing is in need of some repair and I'm looking for someone who has access to an original one of these. I'd like to know what the dimensions of the leadpipe are (someone put a brass sousaphone leadpipe on it and it's too short!), what the original bits looked like (and how long they were, whether there were 1 or 2, etc) and what the valve caps originally looked like. Also, this horn has tuning slide extensions installed, but I'm having to pull the tuning slide almost all the way out just to get it close to in tune. What key was it supposed to be in, and will a "taller" leadpipe bring it back in tune?
If you'd like, I can send or post a photo of the helicon if that will help.
Thank you!
Bryan Cass