About my 1930’s Conn NW2 soprano and a little soprano history
Let me give a quick review and overview of my 1920’s gold plated Conn NW2 soprano. Way back in high school a local repair tech had a pre-war 10M tenor for sale; I think it was a school horn of some kind. Then later he had a 30’s 6M alto that I bought. So around 2020 when I was playing again and wanted to look at a soprano, I also wanted to stay within the Conn family. That’s why I ended up with one and why I looked for one. It’s also why I’m looking for a ‘nino from Conn. I’m kind of in that family and as a hobby player I don’t play enough where having antique horns matters one way or another.
My version of the “saxophone craze” story as it relates to sopranos, ‘ninos, and to some extent bass saxophones. Going back in time, a little over 100 years as of writing this, saxophones and home music making in general was really popular. In a way it stayed popular up through the 80’s and 90’s other than by then the instruments shifted to guitars and rock music rather than brass instruments.
The saxophone family is based off of math and the basic cone design that lets overtones blow an octave. Which means that there are going to be defined family members based off of the key they are in, and then voices from that key. Originally, I guess although I’m less an expert in this, there was meant to be a sax in the key of F for classical music—clarinets being somewhat recent at the time, and politics stopped sax from being a classical instrument. Then they went into Eb and Bb to work with marching bands, and things went from there. They also did that C melody which would have been useful playing off of piano music that every house would have had.
Along with different keys there were different horns that were made, and whole saxophone family bands would pop up. Now we look back to it as a novelty, and it could have been, but in a way these were the guitars of the time. This meant that some of the fridge horns today, soprano in this case and I’ll extend that to bass, were somewhat common and were commonly made.
I know you’re thinking, Andrew what does this have to do with your horn. Well, the Great Depression happened, then the war, and through the 1930’s and 1940’s the only sopranos sold were whatever was leftover from the 20’s. Conn did try to make a new one (for imo the 30’s market), but it was slightly a different size “stretched” than the normal horns. It didn’t sell that well, and although they are kind of rare they aren’t extremely valuable or useful. (Ok, being honest I don’t know about value, but they really need the original mouthpiece, which makes them less than useful.)
Going into the 1960’s
Then sopranos kind of went away to be honest. The Sax craze had been over for 20-30 years, big band music would have went more to clarinet doubles or at least not soprano parts. The horns that were out there are now 20-30 years old, and had older keywork. American band instrument companies didn’t do well in the 50’s to 60’s… They didn’t really get “popular” again until 1960 when Coltrane got his from Miles Davis in Europe. The internet doesn’t know what brand it was, however from there the biggest game in town for professional model horns was Selmer (for various reasons covered in another post). The rest is history.
I went over all of that, because it’s my blog and I wanted to, but also because everyone at the time went to a Selmer not because they were “better” but because they were new and at that point there wasn’t a tendency to keep vintage horns going. Talking with a repair tech friend that went around jazz circles (he isn’t that old, but goes back) these old Conn’s and others had better tone and sound like Selmers. They were just old at the time, and it was easier to buy a new horn.
Are these really difficult to play?
Now before reviewing the horn, a few things about sopranos and ‘ninos. The alto in general is easy to play, it’s also a size where it’s easy enough to take around. The mouthpiece size is enough where students can “bite” and still be able to play well enough, and it’s generally what everyone learns on. The next move for a student would be down to tenor or maybe bari. Again, larger (although I haven’t played bari) means it’s a little easier to play, more air volume lets a person blow past leaks, and biting is still “ok” to do and can get a person by.
Going up from alto is a different story. The mouthpieces get smaller, and a player must use a lip out sax embouchure. Also, leaks get magnified and aren’t as easy to blow past. Which is a long way of saying, that any vintage soprano (or new or anyone) may need a little more help and attention in setup than an alto or tenor. If you’ve ever heard “old horns are stuffy, temperamental, or harder to play” or that targeted to soprano, this is why. The horn that person was playing had leaks and they blamed it on the horn in general rather than on the leak and setup.
A player cannot bite on a soprano. That may get by on alto, and can on tenor, however going up to a soprano won’t work. The horn is getting picky enough that intonation will be all over the place, it will hurt, and it just wouldn’t be a fun experience. A proper lip out embouchure is required and makes playing it comfortable and fun.
Get a leak light…
Getting a leak light is basically mandatory for a soprano. Any small leak can cause issues, and a little more major issues than on alto or tenor. If anything weird or wonky is going on, for instance going from a left hand note down to a right hand note in the lower register, check it out with a leak light first before making any playing adjustments.
As a warning then to older horns, someone needs a leak light and they may even need to be open to the idea of doing work on their own horns. This would mainly include pads, corks, and any swedging (making rods tighter). Because a vintage horn, especially these NW2’s, could be expensive to send to a shop right away and have a lot of simple work done.
When I got my horn it needed some work. The person selling it may have been a better player with better air support, to blow through leaks, or maybe they didn’t play it as extensively after putting on new pads. I had to fix a few leaks, nothing major really, but they were there.
The horn was also a little loose from the factory. I can’t explain why the octave keys wobbled, other than that was the fit from when they were made. There is no way those could have wore out that much or taken the stress of the top or bottom key stack.
After a few lackluster visits to repair techs, I ended up doing the pad work myself and swedging the horn up. As well as fine tuning a few corks after that pad was in place. This wasn’t “hard” or really took that much time, but I’m not paying myself shop rates and it was way more affordable than bringing it in.
Now it’s time for my review…
Once all set up and leak free it’s just a wonderful horn. The tone is great, the action is fine, and I couldn’t be happier. It is a soprano, so there is a little learning curve to the palm key notes, but with proper key height and practice they aren’t terrible to hit.
I’ll also say it’s pretty effortless to play, or at least not “difficult” in the way I thought it would be. Even when I had a few minutes on a ‘nino, it wasn’t hard at all. Sure, the mouthpiece is smaller and embouchure would be a little tighter due to that, but not in a “hard to play” way, and mouthpiece and reed strength can get around some of that. Palm key notes on my Conn are a little interesting, but not impossible. I think a lot of people blame “hard to play” on them biting and on leaks, and then that myth gets perpetuated.
If someone is looking for that vintage tone, or wanting to fit in with a period 1940’s or before big band or combo group, or even that New Orleans style, then these would be the horns to do that with.
These take mouthpieces pretty well. So far I have a Theo Wanne Durga which is fun, and then I bought a refaced Scroll Shank and that’s nice as well. For whatever reason it seems there isn’t as much of a difference between mouthpieces, it’s more subtle, than the differences on alto or tenor.
My horn has the forked Eb or that extra Eb trill key. I have it hooked up on this and on my tenor. On tenor at least it seems like an extra octave key and venting for altissimo, and it does a similar thing on soprano with overtones. At times it helps to get or center an overtone. That said, I can see why it gets closed off. Not only does it need to fit exactly on its own when that key is pressed, the stacks are linked and it needs to exactly fit with that linking. Not that it’s tricky, but it takes attention and it’s easier to reverse the spring. I’d suggest hooking it up, it’s an old horn, it had it originally, and it’s fun.
At some point in its history the circle thumb thing got replaced by a plastic regular thumbrest. I then went and replaced it with an extended thumbrest that sits more on the webbing of my thumb than by the tip. I’d really suggest doing a mod like that, and/or playing with a neckstrap. It’s not a heavy horn at all, but that’s a lot of pressure potentially towards the end of the thumb and our hands aren’t meant for that. It’s been fine since I moved mine up.
Also worth mentioning, the original case has “USN” painted on it, or had at one time. I didn’t get the history of the horn, who knows what it did or where it came from. That said, it very well could have been a Navy horn at one time. Old horns are fun, history is fun, but sometimes the stories are lost to time.
The keywork is a little older. I’m sure there are better octave mechanisms now, and the left hand keywork is all linked together. So playing a G will also automatically depress the C and B keys. This means no split fingerings for altissimo, and no front F key means altissimo would be tricky anyway trying to barely hold open the F palm key. This isn’t an issue for me, I can’t get those altissimo overtones anyway, but I bet some more modern horns are better at this.
Watching YouTube, I heard someone say that overtones from Bb only get up to palm F on sopranos, but then they said altissimo is the same as alto. I also heard some old guy in a professional big band say he never went up past D. So I don’t know if overtones are a me thing, a soprano thing, or something specific to antique horns vs modern/vintage. It’s not the end of the world for me, but this would be limiting if you’re looking to do that.
Would I recommend this horn to someone today?
After all of this, would I recommend this horn? Times have changed a lot in the vintage horn market since I bought my tenor and alto in the late 90’s. There are a lot more models, and just a lot more inventory out there than what I would have had access to. Meaning, if you’re looking for something, your options are going to be more and wider than whatever the local dude has for sale… I would recommend this to someone who is capable of working on their own horn for any pads or corks that need attention. That person would also want to have a vintage horn for that vintage sound. Also if a family member came up to you and said “we’ve had this in the attic or closet” then yes, it’s worth fixing up. I just wouldn’t recommend this to someone younger who needs or wants a soprano and is indifferent on the antique sound. Also, with some really good Yamahas being priced quite affordably I’d really suggest going that (or something else modern) over an antique Conn.
I know this went well beyond the scope of my Conn NW2 soprano. They were a thing in the 1920’s and before, then weren’t a thing up until the 60’s and 70’s—and I forgot about Mr. Kenny G… They are a lot of fun and rewarding, they aren’t difficult to play beyond them being smaller with a little tighter embouchure, and they need to be in great working condition.
Go get that soprano if you want one!
It seems players tend to go in one or two directions, either they want to voice up from alto or tenor, or go down. If someone wants to play soprano, life is short, and they should. Go get one, make sure it’s in great working condition, learn to fix pads or corks if needed, and get that experience. For me it’s been very rewarding as a hobby player, and I’d totally recommend a soprano to anyone who wants to have one and play one. Although at the end of the day I wouldn’t recommend an antique horn unless you really want one and it fits in with the music you’re playing. I’d go more recent in the 1970’s and up.