Custom-Made Miniature Bb Single French Horn (Travel/ Mini horn) with Mouthpiece
Silver and Brass Music Shop is a brick-and-mortar brass instrument restoration and repair shop located in Carson City, NV. This is a custom mini Bb single horn. This horn is one of a series of little horns that our shop built for the purpose of taking hiking, or possibly for travelling. They are very compact and can easily fit in a piece of luggage or a backpack. Those horns are just bent trumpets, pitched in high Bb and made to look like little french horns. Occasionally you will see other similar horns pitched in F-alto, a full octave higher than a standard horn in F. These little horns are pitched in Bb tenor, the same as the Bb side of a double horn. The first picture of the horn shows it next to a regular full-sized double horn for size comparison reasons. These horns have been designed to be as compact as possible, while at the same time sounding as much as possible like a full-sized horn. If you would like to know what these horns sound like then on YouTube. There are many videos of our local horn group playing on these instruments; here are links to a couple of decent videos. And here is a link to all of the videos on our channel. This horn was built using a variety of parts, with the emphasis being on keeping the horn small but giving it a big, warm sound. The bell on this horn is detachable, and the flare is a vintage Conn trombone bell. The main valve cluster is Elkhart-era Conn single horn valves from 1963 with customized slides, and the 4th stopping valve is a vintage F. Olds & Son valve from 1965. The 1st branch and most of the internal tubing are also Elkhart-era Conn parts, and the leadpipe is a solid nickel silver F. Olds & Son leadpipe. Being that almost all of the parts are vintage, there are some imperfections throughout the horn. There are a few small artifacts on the bell tail and the 1st branch from the rebending that was required to reduce the diameter of the instrument, and there is some scratching and etching throughout the horn. The valves move well with good compression and the slides all move of course. The minor flaws are visible in the pictures, and none of them affect the playability of the horn. This horn is not lacquered; therefore the horn will develop a lovely “raw brass” patina over time. All horns are located at Silver & Brass Music Shop.
