Eb Soprano Saxhorn by D.C. Hall
This Eb soprano Saxhorn or valve bugle has survived very
well preserved and the restoration work was straightforward
and uncomplicated. It needed a few screws and the end of
the second valve lever. Most often the removable tuning
shank is missing from this sort of instrument but this one
retains what is unquestionably the original assembly.
David Culver Hall was a leading keyed bugle soloist and band
leader for some years before 1862 when he came to have
controlling interest in the instrument making shop that had
been started by J. Lathrop Allen. Under Hall's leadership the
little factory continued the very successful designs and high
quality workmanship that was firmly established during the
previous decades. This included the unique Allen rotary
valves with flattened windways that enabled a quicker valve
action than standard rotary valves. Other instruments from
this shop shown on this web site are a very similar valve bugle
with copper bell, an orchestra cornet and an alto horn.
The most unique feature of this instrument leads to the most
complicated part of the restoration. The valve section is
removable from the bell section by the removal of two nuts
and a threaded ring that clamps the third valve tube to the
main bell section tubing. It almost certainly had a second bell
section that directed the sound over the shoulder. There are a
number of American made cornets with this feature known
including a Graves Bb cornet and an Eb valve bugle. This is
the only instrument by Hall or Allan with removable valve
section that I know of. The second bell was missing,
unfortunately, but the owner wanted it recreated.
Fortunately, the bell is very similar in design to that on the
E.G. Wright Eb valve bugle which I already make copies of
so I made one of German silver and the braces needed to
complete the alternate section. This is pictured in the last
image below.
Virtually everything that we know about Allen, Hall and the
Quinby Brothers that eventually took over this shop is through
the writings of Bob Eliason in his book Early American Brass
Makers and articles published in the Journal of the American
Musical Instrument Society.
well preserved and the restoration work was straightforward
and uncomplicated. It needed a few screws and the end of
the second valve lever. Most often the removable tuning
shank is missing from this sort of instrument but this one
retains what is unquestionably the original assembly.
David Culver Hall was a leading keyed bugle soloist and band
leader for some years before 1862 when he came to have
controlling interest in the instrument making shop that had
been started by J. Lathrop Allen. Under Hall's leadership the
little factory continued the very successful designs and high
quality workmanship that was firmly established during the
previous decades. This included the unique Allen rotary
valves with flattened windways that enabled a quicker valve
action than standard rotary valves. Other instruments from
this shop shown on this web site are a very similar valve bugle
with copper bell, an orchestra cornet and an alto horn.
The most unique feature of this instrument leads to the most
complicated part of the restoration. The valve section is
removable from the bell section by the removal of two nuts
and a threaded ring that clamps the third valve tube to the
main bell section tubing. It almost certainly had a second bell
section that directed the sound over the shoulder. There are a
number of American made cornets with this feature known
including a Graves Bb cornet and an Eb valve bugle. This is
the only instrument by Hall or Allan with removable valve
section that I know of. The second bell was missing,
unfortunately, but the owner wanted it recreated.
Fortunately, the bell is very similar in design to that on the
E.G. Wright Eb valve bugle which I already make copies of
so I made one of German silver and the braces needed to
complete the alternate section. This is pictured in the last
image below.
Virtually everything that we know about Allen, Hall and the
Quinby Brothers that eventually took over this shop is through
the writings of Bob Eliason in his book Early American Brass
Makers and articles published in the Journal of the American
Musical Instrument Society.
Click on images for larger view.