Lovin' Me Some Helicon!!!! Post yours here.

[Tubajug]

Here's my Martin "Medium" I fixed up:

[Kirley]

I been meaning to ask for purposes of this thread what was and was not a helicon.

In particular, my impression has always been a helicon is a tuba what goes around the player, so sousaphones are helicons which are tubas.

Since Sousaphone is the wider understood term, common useage is that if someone says helicon, they usually mean one that isn't a sousaphone.

So... would posting a sousaphone here be frowned upon?

I believe you are correct in your etymology but personally I'd prefer to have a separate sousaphone thread. And leave this thread for the non-"recording bell" helicons. Mostly because there are so many fewer helicons out there than souzies.

With that being said, please start a sousaphone thread! I'll contribute.

[lost]

@lost Since you like Helicons, I wonder have you seen the Python Tuba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl-d1OM ... nnatdidier

Thanks for sharing. Cool!

On a different note it seems less helicons are around as mentioned in another post. Good luck finding a used BBb. They are gone before you know it on ebay. The wessex one looks solid though. Would like to see more pics of that.

[humBell]

I been meaning to ask for purposes of this thread what was and was not a helicon.

In particular, my impression has always been a helicon is a tuba what goes around the player, so sousaphones are helicons which are tubas.

Since Sousaphone is the wider understood term, common useage is that if someone says helicon, they usually mean one that isn't a sousaphone.

So... would posting a sousaphone here be frowned upon?

I believe you are correct in your etymology but personally I'd prefer to have a separate sousaphone thread. And leave this thread for the non-"recording bell" helicons. Mostly because there are so many fewer helicons out there than souzies.

With that being said, please start a sousaphone thread! I'll contribute.

Well, rather than add another helicon pic today, i'll see if i can get such a sousa thread started.

I apologize in advance: I am a sucker for understatement...

[pjv]

I was surprised not to see one Cerveny or Amati, so here's mine.

[Kirley]

I was surprised not to see one Cerveny or Amati, so here's mine.

Beautiful! Thank you.

[P@rick]

This is my Bohland & Fuchs It arrived today but I'm still @ the office

[P@rick]

...got home and found this beautiful Helicon in the box. Lovely sound. Terrible position and angle of the receiver (can be fixed),but plays awesome. I've got plans for the weekend

[Doc]

1. I’v e never heard of a Melton Fafner helicon (apparently it’s a one-off/rare thing), but it sounds great. I’d like to locate this published music.

[youtube]https://youtube/LxX7TIDw-tM[/youtube]

2. Soprano, tenor, bass, and contrabass helicons?

[youtube]https://youtube/UOsFQGXZQ4A[/youtube]

3. Madsen Concerto

[youtube]https://youtube/WOCUSnQnVg0[/youtube]

4. And some fun on a... B&S JBL Classics helicon? What???

[youtube]https://youtube/I5Z6RIOOAqo[/youtube]

[Doc]

Sorry. Apparently, I don’t know how to use the youtube code/embedding feature, or the links from the youtube mobile app and from a computer are different and there is no mobile compatibility. Other youtube stuff I’ve had to post from a computer to get it to work. Or I just suck. My apologies...

[humBell]

@pjv

(am i getting better at these here emoji?)

I too have a soft spot for Cerveny. And actually if my memory serves, i recall readin' that Cerveny back in the day made some fine valves, and then shared 'em with all the fine instrument makers of his day. Which i thought was a really cool thing to do (i'm sure they sold them, and didn't lose on the deal, but still...)

Also i requested this particular tuba tuesday o' @bisontuba, who obliged, and encouraged me to share my ulterior motive. Which i will, come Sunday (i hope), procrastinator that i am...

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=886

And since we're all about the eye candy in this thread, the end of that series o' links results in this here picture:



Also to make another cross reference, in the media forum, there is a thread for old Cerveny pics:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=559

Mayhap this merits a reference there?

[bisontuba]

[Mithosphere]

My Fischer BBb with 30" bell and another European and his helicon.

[Three Valves]

[Schlepporello]

My current Helicon, built by the late Harvey Hartman. This horn contains parts from at least 4 different tubas, some dating as far back as 1936.

Next is an old H.B. Jay "Columbia EEb which I snagged for $150 on Ebay. I've played this for a couple of Tuba Christmas events, but wasn't impressed with the sound. I sold it to a friend who prefers EEb horns and he plays it for Tuba Christmas now. He's also finally got all the tarnish off of it.

This one came up on Ebay and I was the losing bidder at $26.50. It's an old Czech horn and I never attempted to get it up and running. I sold it to a local friend who had a friend in need of a wall hanger.

[humBell]

"A promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code." -Robert Service.

So here is my "ulterior motive" for the last tuba tuesday request:



It is smaller, (bell is 15") and lacks a brace to the bell, but is otherwise pretty similar. But the best part is the story what came with it that was written up by the previous owner (actual seller i believe was the contractor renovating the house)

"You asked for background info on the helicon. Much too long ago, I wanted to go to MIT. But my parents, who had barely managed to afford a small bible college, insisted on Harvard. No doubt foolishly, and much too young, I worked various jobs while obeying my parents' wishes with the notion that after I'd saved up enough to pay the MIT tuition I could transfer. For a time a did TV repair late at night. But my boss was a crook. One of his tricks was to swap tubes, charging for new, or to make minor adjustments with a pot or tuning slug, and bill the victim big bucks. He was quite upset that I couldn't follow his example. About this time I had a clarinet with a leaking pad and took it into Boston to a second floor repair shop over a liquor store. I asked if I could get a replacement pad. The old man got to talking to me and perhaps taking pity on me asked if perhaps I'd be interested in doing it myself. Of course I said sure. And he showed me how to melt the shellac, take the old pad out, and adjust the new pad using strips of cigarette paper to get it properly aligned. After I got it installed, I played on it to be sure everything was fine. And the old man asked if perhaps I'd like to play some duets. I said sure. He took out an old flute, and I sight read some Bach inventions with him that he'd play from memory. He was missing most of his teeth, so that he produced as much spittle as music, but it was clear he was a good musician. It turned out that he had been the solo (i.e., stars and stripes) piccolo player with John Phillips Souza, but had turned to doing instrument repair when he could no longer adjust his embouchure to compensate for the missing teeth. One thing led to another and he gave me a night job supposedly repairing wind instruments (and I never did get to MIT), but in fact, playing duets with him and arguing over philosophy, politics, etc. He'd been orphaned when five or six, and farmed out to a farmer in the western part of the state, split away from his younger sister. He hated farming, but somehow managed to teach himself to play flute and eventually managed to get a job in a large touring dance band, doubling on saxophone and clarinet. By the time I met him, he worked days with his three sons, but no longer got on with his wife, and so worked to ten or eleven every night to avoid going home. He read a lot, but unevenly, and took great pleasure in arguing with a naive young Harvard student. It was a wonderful experience for me. I got to learn to play most wind instruments and so when I was drafted, and most of my class mates who like me hadn't done ROTC got to learn all about Korean geography the hard way, I managed to land a job teaching at the Army's Fort Knox band school. Nights and week-ends I'd double on whatever instruments were needed at the NCO or Officer's clubs. When they played Dixieland I'd sometimes do syncopated oompah upbeats on the tuba. And when I finished my military career and landed a real job, I came by old Mr. Sylva's shop and bought some old instruments. Among them was this old (1890 ?) helicon. My young wife who never complained of my practicing did draw the line when I took out my oboe -- and the helicon. She was a practiced diplomat and suggested it would look nice hanging up over the brick fireplace. Putting suggestion into reality, she labored long and hard, scrubbing it with salt and vinegar, and soon it was sparkling. I should have lacquered it. But sadly I didn't, and eventually it lost its sheen. But I never did take it down from the chimney to play. It's a heavy thing to hold. And the French horn is really far more melodious. But in the back of my mind, after she died, I was always planning to do that sometime late at night after I'd had an extra glass of wine or two... But somehow I never did. And now it's too late. And no doubt the valves are now frozen, and surely it needs a real mouthpiece. But late at night in my mind's ear I still occasionally hear myself playing from memory Bach inventions on it with old Mr. Sylva... "

And for my part, it got some work done by Osmun Brass here, and was finished off by Dan Schultz here. The wrap/neck bit placement is still a mite tight and awkward for me, so for a few years it was lent to a friend whose band went towards a liederhosen aesthetic...

[ronr]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/119be9ywwpzeo ... 4.JPG?dl=0

[prairieboy1]

"A promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code." -Robert Service.

So here is my "ulterior motive" for the last tuba tuesday request:



It is smaller, (bell is 15") and lacks a brace to the bell, but is otherwise pretty similar. But the best part is the story what came with it that was written up by the previous owner (actual seller i believe was the contractor renovating the house)

"You asked for background info on the helicon. Much too long ago, I wanted to go to MIT. But my parents, who had barely managed to afford a small bible college, insisted on Harvard. No doubt foolishly, and much too young, I worked various jobs while obeying my parents' wishes with the notion that after I'd saved up enough to pay the MIT tuition I could transfer. For a time a did TV repair late at night. But my boss was a crook. One of his tricks was to swap tubes, charging for new, or to make minor adjustments with a pot or tuning slug, and bill the victim big bucks. He was quite upset that I couldn't follow his example. About this time I had a clarinet with a leaking pad and took it into Boston to a second floor repair shop over a liquor store. I asked if I could get a replacement pad. The old man got to talking to me and perhaps taking pity on me asked if perhaps I'd be interested in doing it myself. Of course I said sure. And he showed me how to melt the shellac, take the old pad out, and adjust the new pad using strips of cigarette paper to get it properly aligned. After I got it installed, I played on it to be sure everything was fine. And the old man asked if perhaps I'd like to play some duets. I said sure. He took out an old flute, and I sight read some Bach inventions with him that he'd play from memory. He was missing most of his teeth, so that he produced as much spittle as music, but it was clear he was a good musician. It turned out that he had been the solo (i.e., stars and stripes) piccolo player with John Phillips Souza, but had turned to doing instrument repair when he could no longer adjust his embouchure to compensate for the missing teeth. One thing led to another and he gave me a night job supposedly repairing wind instruments (and I never did get to MIT), but in fact, playing duets with him and arguing over philosophy, politics, etc. He'd been orphaned when five or six, and farmed out to a farmer in the western part of the state, split away from his younger sister. He hated farming, but somehow managed to teach himself to play flute and eventually managed to get a job in a large touring dance band, doubling on saxophone and clarinet. By the time I met him, he worked days with his three sons, but no longer got on with his wife, and so worked to ten or eleven every night to avoid going home. He read a lot, but unevenly, and took great pleasure in arguing with a naive young Harvard student. It was a wonderful experience for me. I got to learn to play most wind instruments and so when I was drafted, and most of my class mates who like me hadn't done ROTC got to learn all about Korean geography the hard way, I managed to land a job teaching at the Army's Fort Knox band school. Nights and week-ends I'd double on whatever instruments were needed at the NCO or Officer's clubs. When they played Dixieland I'd sometimes do syncopated oompah upbeats on the tuba. And when I finished my military career and landed a real job, I came by old Mr. Sylva's shop and bought some old instruments. Among them was this old (1890 ?) helicon. My young wife who never complained of my practicing did draw the line when I took out my oboe -- and the helicon. She was a practiced diplomat and suggested it would look nice hanging up over the brick fireplace. Putting suggestion into reality, she labored long and hard, scrubbing it with salt and vinegar, and soon it was sparkling. I should have lacquered it. But sadly I didn't, and eventually it lost its sheen. But I never did take it down from the chimney to play. It's a heavy thing to hold. And the French horn is really far more melodious. But in the back of my mind, after she died, I was always planning to do that sometime late at night after I'd had an extra glass of wine or two... But somehow I never did. And now it's too late. And no doubt the valves are now frozen, and surely it needs a real mouthpiece. But late at night in my mind's ear I still occasionally hear myself playing from memory Bach inventions on it with old Mr. Sylva... "

And for my part, it got some work done by Osmun Brass here, and was finished off by Dan Schultz here. The wrap/neck bit placement is still a mite tight and awkward for me, so for a few years it was lent to a friend whose band went towards a liederhosen aesthetic...

I bet Dave Detweiler would be interested in this as there is a Sousa connection, although not tuba.

[Kirley]

What a story!
Thanks for sharing, humBell.
You gotta love stuff like that.

[humBell]

...

I bet Dave Detweiler would be interested in this as there is a Sousa connection, although not tuba.

I wish i had the former owner's name. But the trail is some 7 years cold. Still, i know a local band director who might be able to figure out who it was. So it is a fantastic story and i do love it. Sorry it has taken me so long to pass it on. But it's value to a historian may be somewhat hampered.

Er, pondering this post, i asked the fellow i'd lent it to had tales worth sharing, and he said it had played "funky night" in a church setting (silent night, this time with funk) and sent me a picture of the helicon in front of an alter.

I also recall him texting me saying he ran into someone else playing one of these old side-roter cervenies, so there are more out there!