Four Valve Bb Cornet by E.G. Wright
This is another important cornet from the collection of Steve
Ward who shares my fascination with the Boston makers. This
is a cautionary tale for those of us that wish to preserve the
objects of our history. I feel strongly, that when deciding about
how to treat a historical object, a determination should be made
as to its importance. The more important it is, the more
conservative the treatment should be, hopefully preserving as
much original detail and from that, as much evidence of history,
as possible. This cornet could have been judged not to be
unique, since there are a number of four valve Bb cornets in this
form by E.G. Wright, but this does seem to be unique in that
both the material (brass bell on a nickel instrument) and design
(described below) of the bell are different that other known
examples. When Steve bought this, it had just been "restored",
although without much sensitivity to preserving what it had been.
It was shiny, but had lost some of its visual beauty and
proportion. I told Steve that he could leave it as it was, looking
pretty good and in playable condition, although with an additional
investment, I could do my best to reverse some of the damage.
The silver plating was a good thick layer, so I first had it stripped
by Anderson Silver in Elkhart. Once I took it apart, it was very
clear what was original and what wasn't. The mouthpipe and
tuning slide assemblies and return crook were replacements in
brass rather than the original nickel silver, adapted from a piston
valve cornet. It had obviously been in very rough shape before
the earlier work, which had split the brass in a number of places,
especially along the bell seam. In the third photo to the left it can
be clearly seen that attempts were made to silver solder over the
seams, hoping to avoid applying patches, Even when this sort of
repair is somewhat successful, the instrument almost always
needs a larger patch than was originally necessary to cover the
thin and weak surface that results. I decided that there wasn't
much that I could do for the most badly damaged portion of the
bell curve, needing to be completely covered by patches.
Resorting to a procedure that I would normally object to, I cut
that entire section off the bell and made a new piece to replace it.
Fortunately, I am very familiar with Wright's cornets from the
late 1860s and I was able to make new mouthpipe, crooks and
tuning tubes very close to the originals. Great care was taken to
mount the parts so that the cornet is visually appealing. I believe
that these instrument makers took great pride in the appearance
of their products. The brass bell on a nickel silver instrument is
especially attractive and I show it next to a Boston Orchestra
Cornet from the 1870s made in the same materials in the last
photo. You can clearly see that it has different proportions than
the Boston (which was a continuation of Wright's designs). Not
only is the bell shaped and curved differently to make it longer,
but it has a flat oval rim that is uncharacteristic for these. I was
able to determine that this cornet originally had a fixed
mouthpipe (without interchangeable shanks) based on the brace
where it attached to the bell tube. The brace and mouthpiece
receiver end of the original had been attached to the replacement
mouthpipe. While never seen on those made by Boston Musical
Instrument Manufactory of the same design, I have seen a few
fixed mouthpipes by Wright. There is less need for a longer A
shank when the cornet has the fourth valve adding a half step
and it likely came with a longer tuning slide for A, as seen in this
Boston as well as another Wright Bb cornet featured on this site
that was made about the same time. These were both made
after Wright discontinued applying the garland over the bell rim
in favor of the "French rim" seen here. This change was made
about 1865 or shortly after.
Ward who shares my fascination with the Boston makers. This
is a cautionary tale for those of us that wish to preserve the
objects of our history. I feel strongly, that when deciding about
how to treat a historical object, a determination should be made
as to its importance. The more important it is, the more
conservative the treatment should be, hopefully preserving as
much original detail and from that, as much evidence of history,
as possible. This cornet could have been judged not to be
unique, since there are a number of four valve Bb cornets in this
form by E.G. Wright, but this does seem to be unique in that
both the material (brass bell on a nickel instrument) and design
(described below) of the bell are different that other known
examples. When Steve bought this, it had just been "restored",
although without much sensitivity to preserving what it had been.
It was shiny, but had lost some of its visual beauty and
proportion. I told Steve that he could leave it as it was, looking
pretty good and in playable condition, although with an additional
investment, I could do my best to reverse some of the damage.
The silver plating was a good thick layer, so I first had it stripped
by Anderson Silver in Elkhart. Once I took it apart, it was very
clear what was original and what wasn't. The mouthpipe and
tuning slide assemblies and return crook were replacements in
brass rather than the original nickel silver, adapted from a piston
valve cornet. It had obviously been in very rough shape before
the earlier work, which had split the brass in a number of places,
especially along the bell seam. In the third photo to the left it can
be clearly seen that attempts were made to silver solder over the
seams, hoping to avoid applying patches, Even when this sort of
repair is somewhat successful, the instrument almost always
needs a larger patch than was originally necessary to cover the
thin and weak surface that results. I decided that there wasn't
much that I could do for the most badly damaged portion of the
bell curve, needing to be completely covered by patches.
Resorting to a procedure that I would normally object to, I cut
that entire section off the bell and made a new piece to replace it.
Fortunately, I am very familiar with Wright's cornets from the
late 1860s and I was able to make new mouthpipe, crooks and
tuning tubes very close to the originals. Great care was taken to
mount the parts so that the cornet is visually appealing. I believe
that these instrument makers took great pride in the appearance
of their products. The brass bell on a nickel silver instrument is
especially attractive and I show it next to a Boston Orchestra
Cornet from the 1870s made in the same materials in the last
photo. You can clearly see that it has different proportions than
the Boston (which was a continuation of Wright's designs). Not
only is the bell shaped and curved differently to make it longer,
but it has a flat oval rim that is uncharacteristic for these. I was
able to determine that this cornet originally had a fixed
mouthpipe (without interchangeable shanks) based on the brace
where it attached to the bell tube. The brace and mouthpiece
receiver end of the original had been attached to the replacement
mouthpipe. While never seen on those made by Boston Musical
Instrument Manufactory of the same design, I have seen a few
fixed mouthpipes by Wright. There is less need for a longer A
shank when the cornet has the fourth valve adding a half step
and it likely came with a longer tuning slide for A, as seen in this
Boston as well as another Wright Bb cornet featured on this site
that was made about the same time. These were both made
after Wright discontinued applying the garland over the bell rim
in favor of the "French rim" seen here. This change was made
about 1865 or shortly after.
Click on images for larger views.