E.G. Wright Bb Cornet, Early 1860s
Once again, the restoration work here is quite ordinary, but I am
compelled to share this instrument because of its historical importance
and perhaps even more so because of its importance to me personally.
Even as one of the world's great brass instrument makers, Wright is
over represented on my web site, but for those of you that savor the
work of the best early US makers, you will dig this one from the
collection of Nick Rail Music. A lot of what I think that I know about
Wright is speculative, but I believe this to be among the earliest of his
instruments with side action valve levers. The fact that the levers are
very thin compared with what I'm accustomed to make me think, at
first, that they have been ground down in a previous repair, but after
working on it, I now believe that they are an earlier design that we see
in his more familiar work. He likely redesigned them to the wider
form to make them more easily under the fingers of the player. In the
last image below I show a portion of a price list published by Wright in
the 1860s (courtesy of Steve Ward collection). It is undated, but gives
an address where Wright had his shop from 1860 to 1866. I believe
that it is from before 1865 which is the approximate year that he
started making the newer design Bb cornet in which the bell curves
270 degrees rather than 180 degrees as seen in this one. In this
damaged but readable ad, you can clearly see a Bb cornet illustrated
which is very much like this although has the wider valve levers seen
on later Wright cornets and all the Boston Band Model cornets with
side action valves. There are a few other features in this cornet that
point to it being early. One is the decorative turnings on the braces
which becomes slightly simplified in later instruments. Another is not
visible in the photos, but the valve bearings that are under the lever
carriage are open and have alignment marks on them. A very short
time later, Wright would solder caps over these bearing ends and put
the alignment marks on the tops of the stop pins (where the corks hit)
on the opposite side.
This cornet is 13 5/16" long, the bell rim diameter is 4 5/8" and the
bore size is .459". The standard bore size for later Wright and then
early Boston cornets became .462". Neither mouthpieces shown are
original, the first was found with it, the second is a Fiske from the
period.
Most of the effort involved in this restoration was in the dent removal
and although quite battered the brass was mostly sound. It required
just two patches on seams that had split. The first valve lever had
been repaired and was secure and functional, but needed a brass strip
added to blend it in cosmetically. Then two stop arm retaining screws
and pull knobs for the first and third valve slides were made to
complete the instrument.
compelled to share this instrument because of its historical importance
and perhaps even more so because of its importance to me personally.
Even as one of the world's great brass instrument makers, Wright is
over represented on my web site, but for those of you that savor the
work of the best early US makers, you will dig this one from the
collection of Nick Rail Music. A lot of what I think that I know about
Wright is speculative, but I believe this to be among the earliest of his
instruments with side action valve levers. The fact that the levers are
very thin compared with what I'm accustomed to make me think, at
first, that they have been ground down in a previous repair, but after
working on it, I now believe that they are an earlier design that we see
in his more familiar work. He likely redesigned them to the wider
form to make them more easily under the fingers of the player. In the
last image below I show a portion of a price list published by Wright in
the 1860s (courtesy of Steve Ward collection). It is undated, but gives
an address where Wright had his shop from 1860 to 1866. I believe
that it is from before 1865 which is the approximate year that he
started making the newer design Bb cornet in which the bell curves
270 degrees rather than 180 degrees as seen in this one. In this
damaged but readable ad, you can clearly see a Bb cornet illustrated
which is very much like this although has the wider valve levers seen
on later Wright cornets and all the Boston Band Model cornets with
side action valves. There are a few other features in this cornet that
point to it being early. One is the decorative turnings on the braces
which becomes slightly simplified in later instruments. Another is not
visible in the photos, but the valve bearings that are under the lever
carriage are open and have alignment marks on them. A very short
time later, Wright would solder caps over these bearing ends and put
the alignment marks on the tops of the stop pins (where the corks hit)
on the opposite side.
This cornet is 13 5/16" long, the bell rim diameter is 4 5/8" and the
bore size is .459". The standard bore size for later Wright and then
early Boston cornets became .462". Neither mouthpieces shown are
original, the first was found with it, the second is a Fiske from the
period.
Most of the effort involved in this restoration was in the dent removal
and although quite battered the brass was mostly sound. It required
just two patches on seams that had split. The first valve lever had
been repaired and was secure and functional, but needed a brass strip
added to blend it in cosmetically. Then two stop arm retaining screws
and pull knobs for the first and third valve slides were made to
complete the instrument.
Click on images for larger views.