Antique Musical Instruments/old Alto/Tenor horn

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Expert: - 7/20/2009


Question

Holton Alto Horn
I was given an old Collegiate by Holton Alto horn, (I think.) It looks like a 1/2 size Baritone 7" X 24", with the 45 degree bell and all, and has a serial # of 243530 on the valve body. It came with a 2nd piece to the tuning slide to change the key it plays in from Eb to Bb. Can you tell by the serial when about was it made and is it in fact an alto horn. I can find nothing like it at all.

Answer
Yep, its an alto horn, though some folks call these altoiums, because they have a more narrow bore than the typical alto horn.  I'm pretty sure the key change is from F to Eb.  Bb flat is too great a distance, you would have to change all the valve slides as well.

It dates to 1953.  

Antique Musical Instruments

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Kenton Scott

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Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

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I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net

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B.S. Ed, M.S.

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