Conn 41B Connqueror - High + Low Pitch

Conn 41B Connqueror - High + Low Pitch 1933

Date: 1933. Instrument owned by Allan Hawley.

Notice the vocabell (rimless), the octagonal valve casings and the position of the third slide finger ring. In case you are wondering: the valves themselves aren't octagonal. Also note that the position of the third valve slide and the tuning slide on the third valve casing are reversed from the usual/modern way.

Apparently the instruction manual said of the valves: "Use distilled water on the valves. Only inferior horns need oil lubricant". The 41B probably has a #1½ (0.459") bore.

Unusually, the 41B isn't listed in either Robb Stewart's trumpet model number list posted on R. Jones' website (see link) nor in a 1933 cornets and trumpets catalog I own. Nevertheless, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is a 41B Connqueror, High and Low Pitch. Obviously it looks just like a 40B Connqueror, the leadpipe is stamped "41B", and the owner tells me it includes slides for both High and Low Pitch. In the 1920's and 1930's it was common for High Pitch Conn instruments to include a Low Pitch slide. And, these High Pitch or High + Low Pitch instruments (as the case may be) invariably had odd model numbers. The current thinking is that this is an export version of the Connqueror for countries where High Pitch was still in use in the 1930's. Since this particular instrument lives in Australia, that is a very plausible theory.

What Conn said in 1933 of the 40B:
The most popular trumpet on the market. Used by such first chair stars as Lebert Lombardo (Guy Lombardo), Jack Cavan (Charlie Agnew), Lamar Wright (Cab Calloway), Charlie Williams (Duke Ellington), David Glickstein (Broadway shows) and Eddie Camden (Don Bestor). The Vocabell rim is a single, integral piece of metal which allows it to vibrate freely. Conventional bells have a rigid wire in the rim which tends to muffle the tone and dampen out the delicate harmonics that are so essential to clear tone and rich coloring. Delicate instruments of Columbia Broadcasting Studio in New York show the Vocabell has from 12 to 15 decibels greater volume, is smoother and more even in scale, and is clearer and purer in tone than trumpets with the conventional type bells. Beautifully styled in modern manner. Medium bore, Bb and A, springs in bottom of valves.