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C. G. Conn New Era 56B Trumpet |
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C. G. Conn Co. Model: 56B Original cost in 1928 = $110 [$2,075 in 2025] Conn was the maker to come up with the streamlined trumpet design in 1928 with the New Era 56B and 58B models late in the year. The first batch shipped out in October and as this advertising image shows, it was quite a bit longer and narrower in design compared to the shadow image of a traditional trumpet. Most other American makers were to follow with their own version of this in the next few years as the Conn became popular. The 58B didn't have the Bb/A rotary valve but kept the trigger.
Ads from fall and December of 1928 show the above design, then starting in early 1929, the third slide was moved to the right side of the lead pipe. The design was to stay that way for the rest of the run. Below is the 1929 version. By 1929, the 58B traded the trigger for a fixed ring.
I picked up this 1928 version of the 56B as a project horn missing most of the trigger mechanism. The only part left was the long bar attached to the slide. One reason that I bought this was that my other 56B from 1929 played so well that I wanted another one that was less valuable that I could play more often.
The first challenge was to remove a badly stuck tuning side. The two wood blocks were screwed to the sides of the slides to help keep them from twisting when trying to free them. Old slides were soldered into the ends of the tuning slides to act as levers as I slowly worked them free.
Finally, everything was apart and ready for restoration. The first slide was also stuck and had to be unsoldered to remove. Overall, the horn was very straight and needed very little dent work. The odd parts on the left are what I initially gathered together to make the new lever with. I later used a different water key as the basis for the lever mount and bolt.
All cleaned up and ready for assembly except for the trigger.
Here are the pieces for the lever ready to be soldered together. The main joint with the ring was silver soldered.
Initial fitting of the lever.
Final fitting of the lever. I ended up changing the spring post as the original post and spring I tried did not work well and was too weak. This left a small hole in the wrong place to the left in this photo. If I had to do this over again, I would move the ring forward just a little and give myself more of a throw in the slide action.
Third slide all back together and some silver plating added to the lever. Only the 1928 version had this stop rod on the third slide. In 1929, they changed this to an adjustable bolt built into the lever.
The finished trumpet.
The mysterious B stamped into many of the trumpets of the 1920s. Earlier horns sometimes had an "A" or "*" mark.
Receiver stamped with model number.
I love the mix of satin and burnished finishes found in this era.
This came with its original case.
At this point, I have added a period B-125 mouthpiece, Brilliante mute, tuning bit, music lyre, and cleaning rod.
Another ad for the New Era trumpets from c.1930.
The most famous user of the Conn 56B in 1932.
In late 2025, I happened to have three New Era trumpets at the same time. This shows how the 1928 first version was slightly shorter in length than the later ones. From top to bottom, 1928 56B, 1929 56B with custom slide controls from a 2B, and 1930 58B.
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