One Of A Kind Conn 32H With F-Attachment

Here’s another Conn 32H from my collection, probably the last one I’ll sell. This one was made in 1934. I bought it in the 90’s from a New York pro and was told it has always been owned by adults. The original slides are smooth and fast, with no hitches and no wear-through on the inners.

When I first got it, I had Dick Akright pull and replace the original (#7) lead pipe, so you can put a different lead pipe in it if you like. I removed the lacquer myself. The original lacquer had turned chestnut brown, and I wanted to see if it was concealing a rose brass bell, like the 26H I was also playing at the time. It wasn’t: the bell is regular yellow brass. If you look closely, you can see there is some pitting, which is pretty much normal for an unlacqured horn.

In 2022, I had Zig Kanstul fit it with an F-attachment that would have gone on one of his 760 step-up horns, which was of similar size (.500/.530” bore, 8” bell) to the 32H (.500/.522” bore, 7.5” bell). He told me, “You know, kid, this is a professional horn.” I was over 50 years old at the time. He said he’d do the work himself.

FWIW, of course I tried a 760 while I was there. (They were popular with some L.A. studio musicians, some of whom also had 32H’s.) I like the resonance of the 32H better.

In any case, having an F-attachment on a small/medium horn is very useful. If it were in production, this would compete with a King 3B. Having owned several (including SilverSonics), I can say that the 32H is more nearly in tune across the interval series and slots more easily.

This horn will ship in a new Shires-branded Marco Magi case and a mouthpiece of your choice if I have one in my bin.

Questions? Please ask.