Conical Bore EA Couturier Euphonium - 1918ish

[RevKJC]

I was given a pretty beat up euphonium... it looks cool and I'm a sucker for repairing and restoring, so I can imagining going down a rabbit hole. I found a few websites about these instruments, but didn't see this number (2062) listed. Does anyone have more information or history on Couturier horns?
Does anyone know if it's worth working on the cracked slide and dented bell?

[RevKJC]

[davewerden]

I THINK that horn is designed to be more fully conical, except for the draw-legs on the main tuning slide. There are no slides on the valve tubes as far as I can see. That was an intriguing idea to me, although I would miss not being able to fine-tune the valves.

I know nothing about its $$ value. To me it would be a "heart-driven" decision.

[highpitch]

Nice engraving on that.

DG

[RevKJC]

I just took this in for repair estimates...
It's definitely a heart-driven decision!

[daruby]

RevKJC,

I do not know what repairs it needs besides a good cleaning, but be aware that because the valve slides do not pull out, if anything needs serious work, there may be a high liklihood of the horn needing to be disassembled at the solder joints to get to dents in tubing and to effectively clean the 1-2-3 tubing. Also, make sure you check to find out whether it is high pitch or not before you dissassemble it as that has a huge impact on its playability.

Doug

[davewerden]

Not that I know all that much about this particular design, but confirming what Doug said it seems to me that a shop could have a tough time bringing this down to proper pitch. The whole idea of the design is the gentle curve concept would not be compatible with adding straight tubing. I see places where it might be done, but it would require more than the usual disassembly.

[carbogast]

I have serial number 2042 of this horn and it is in standard pitch, so there is some good news there. I find that it is relatively easy to lip bend the pitch on individual notes (although I should go back and checkout notes B (123) and C (13)). The tuning slide is extremely heavy for its' size. I've read that the tubing is graduated even through the legs - maybe that is the reason. I don't play this horn very often, but when I do, I dry it out by a running a spitball through it a few times.