Conn 82A Victor
Date: 1929. Owner unknown
Notice the micro-tuning mechanism near the first valve. The 82A has a #2½ bore (0.484"). The only difference between the 80A and 82A as far as I can tell is that the 80A is "Bb & A", whereas the 82A is only "Bb". The 82A was made between at least 1929 and 1935.
I have learned that at least the pre-war 80A takes a short shank cornet mouthpiece. Apparently modern cornet mouthpieces are long shank. I am told the long shank mouthpieces will work, perhaps with the help of a little tape, but the short shank mouthpieces work a lot better. I have also learned that the third slide without the finger ring to adjust the pitch of a low D and C# is slightly longer than it is on modern instruments. On modern instruments the low Eb is in tune, but the low D and C# are quite sharp. On these older cornets with the longer third slide no finger ring the Eb is a bit flat and the D and C# are slightly sharp, but not as sharp as they are on later instruments. It was thought that the flat Eb and slightly sharp D and C# were within the abilities of the player to lip into tune.
As far as I can tell at this point, all Conn cornets built before 1955 take a short shank cornet mouthpiece as opposed to the 2¾" "Bach-style" long shank cornet mouthpiece. The long shank cornet mouthpieces won't properly fit a pre-1955 Conn cornet and won't give the proper intonation or playing characteristics of a short shank cornet mouthpiece. All of Conn's "Connstellation" cornet mouthpieces are long shank mouthpieces. The "Improved Precision" Conn mouthpieces such as the Conn 4 are long shank if there is a "ridge" halfway down the shank, and short shank if there is no ridge (in which case it is a "Precision" mouthpiece). All Conn cornet mouthpieces built before the "Improved Precision" series (ridge), such as the "Precision" series (no ridge) are short shank mouthpieces.