Early Courtois Cornet
Made in about 1858, this is the earliest Courtois cornet pitched in C
and among the 15 or so earliest Courtois instruments that we know
of. It is a variant of the very earliest Koenig's models Courtois
cornets, which seem all to be in Bb. It certainly seemed worthy of a
careful restoration, and the kit of parts being fairly complete, an
important exercise in preservation. What is missing is one valve
button, two pull knobs, the lower tuning slide tubes, lyre and original
mouthpieces (the two pictured are from the period, but not original to
this instrument). Also, oddly, the end of the Ab crook has been cut
off. In order to keep the cost more reasonable, I didn't spend much
time on the larger crooks. The originals are functional as they are
and it would be easier to make new crooks than to remove all the
dents, if perfect examples were desired. The mouthpipe shanks are
for C and B natural , the crooks put this cornet in Bb, A, Ab, G and
F. In addition, there is a coupling crook about the length of the G
crook and is used in combination with the G or F crook.
Interestingly, when used with the G crook it lowers the pitch to Eb (4
semitones) and when with the F crook, to D (3 semitones). I also
include a photo of this cornet with the F crook in place, showing how
well its curves follow those of the bell and mouthpipe. This is just
one indication of the importance of details to M. Antoine Courtois.
Mr. Emile Meuffels of Amsterdam must agree with me having sent
this cornet all the way to me to restore for him.
The restoration process was generally straightforward, removing
dents, repairing braces, ferrules and soldering it all back together in
the exact shape as it was originally. If you have seen many antique
cornets, you may have noticed that it is very common for the bell to
slope downwards in relation to the valves. Many people have come
to believe that this was an original feature of these cornets, but I can
assure you that it isn't true. Very often the bell gets bent down from
general rough handling, but at least as often, in the course of repairs
it has been soldered to the valve section at that odd angle. The
deformation caused by numerous dents in the bell curve and the
removal of those dents causes it to straighten slightly. Forcing the
differently shaped bell to fit the valve section causes it to tilt
downwards. If the bell curve is forced back to the original shape, it
becomes very oval in section. In the most common situation, both of
these features are observed. I find this intolerable in my own work,
so in such cases, I fill the bell with pitch or Cero-bend (a metal with a
very low melting point) and bend the bell back to its original shape.
There is a bit of judgement involved when applying such techniques,
since ancient and deteriorated brass is likely to loose some structural
integrity and could split. There are cases where it is obvious that the
metal is compromised enough to make this technique unwise,
especially when the wall thickness is as thin as in this instrument.
The example that comes to mind is the Benoit Saxhorn, where the
brass is very fragile from intergranular corrosion. Enough zinc has
been leached out of the alloy to make it substantially weaker. As
bent and corroded as this Courtois cornet appears in the "before"
photos, it is actually in quite sound condition, due at least in some
part to being stored inside the case for most of its existence.
and among the 15 or so earliest Courtois instruments that we know
of. It is a variant of the very earliest Koenig's models Courtois
cornets, which seem all to be in Bb. It certainly seemed worthy of a
careful restoration, and the kit of parts being fairly complete, an
important exercise in preservation. What is missing is one valve
button, two pull knobs, the lower tuning slide tubes, lyre and original
mouthpieces (the two pictured are from the period, but not original to
this instrument). Also, oddly, the end of the Ab crook has been cut
off. In order to keep the cost more reasonable, I didn't spend much
time on the larger crooks. The originals are functional as they are
and it would be easier to make new crooks than to remove all the
dents, if perfect examples were desired. The mouthpipe shanks are
for C and B natural , the crooks put this cornet in Bb, A, Ab, G and
F. In addition, there is a coupling crook about the length of the G
crook and is used in combination with the G or F crook.
Interestingly, when used with the G crook it lowers the pitch to Eb (4
semitones) and when with the F crook, to D (3 semitones). I also
include a photo of this cornet with the F crook in place, showing how
well its curves follow those of the bell and mouthpipe. This is just
one indication of the importance of details to M. Antoine Courtois.
Mr. Emile Meuffels of Amsterdam must agree with me having sent
this cornet all the way to me to restore for him.
The restoration process was generally straightforward, removing
dents, repairing braces, ferrules and soldering it all back together in
the exact shape as it was originally. If you have seen many antique
cornets, you may have noticed that it is very common for the bell to
slope downwards in relation to the valves. Many people have come
to believe that this was an original feature of these cornets, but I can
assure you that it isn't true. Very often the bell gets bent down from
general rough handling, but at least as often, in the course of repairs
it has been soldered to the valve section at that odd angle. The
deformation caused by numerous dents in the bell curve and the
removal of those dents causes it to straighten slightly. Forcing the
differently shaped bell to fit the valve section causes it to tilt
downwards. If the bell curve is forced back to the original shape, it
becomes very oval in section. In the most common situation, both of
these features are observed. I find this intolerable in my own work,
so in such cases, I fill the bell with pitch or Cero-bend (a metal with a
very low melting point) and bend the bell back to its original shape.
There is a bit of judgement involved when applying such techniques,
since ancient and deteriorated brass is likely to loose some structural
integrity and could split. There are cases where it is obvious that the
metal is compromised enough to make this technique unwise,
especially when the wall thickness is as thin as in this instrument.
The example that comes to mind is the Benoit Saxhorn, where the
brass is very fragile from intergranular corrosion. Enough zinc has
been leached out of the alloy to make it substantially weaker. As
bent and corroded as this Courtois cornet appears in the "before"
photos, it is actually in quite sound condition, due at least in some
part to being stored inside the case for most of its existence.
Click on images for larger views.