Cornets

The first Directors made after Conn was sold to MacMillan and production was outsourced in 1971 were unusual. They were made by Yamaha for Conn, but used a Schilke design!

Here are photos [none of them mine] of the cornet models, starting with the earliest introduced (19A & 21A):

^ Conn 21A Director cornet with copper bell: note that it might not be Coprion, but spun copper instead, as the bell has "swirls" unlike true Coprion; there are exceptions, as some horns had old-stock Elkhart Coprion bells, but the newer Yamaha valves and tubing ^

^ Conn 19A Director cornet with brass bell and valve type ^

In about 1974, the 16A cornet came out. It was basically a renamed 19A (the copper-bell line was eliminated), with a new bell engraving and "16A" being stamped on the mouthpiece reciever, instead of "☆ DIRECTOR ☆". The valves changed to a barrel-type valve like those used on Connquests, Victors, and Connstellations.

^ Conn 16A [Director]; early style with underslung leadpipe wrap made until ~1978, with valves ^

^ Detail of "semi-floral" bell engraving used, in place of the earlier "shooting stars" ^

^ Conn 16A [Director]; late style with Olds Ambassador/conventional leadpipe wrap--made from ~1978 ^

Note that the 18A, which first came out in 1980, was essentially a renamed late model 16A--the serial number system, the bell engraving, and leadpipe wrap were the same, with "18A" stamped on the mouthpiece reciever instead of "16A". A perfect example of these transitional 18A/Bs is an 18B trumpet (serial HE012004) with modern-style (non-telescoping) braces, semi-floral bell pattern, and ordinary water-keys, and Bach-type valves shown below. The later model 18A is the more familiar version that removes the "semi-floral" pattern and "CONN" below the marching men, and replaces it with "Director / C. G. CONN, LTD./[USA in some instances]". Note that the marching men are still in the trapezoid seen in the "semi-floral" bell. The braces also change to more modern-style ones, instead of the old "telescoping" ones, with Amado water keys becoming standard by 1982-3, possibly changing back during the Henkin-to-UMI/Abilene-to-Eastlake conversion. These late 18As basically "set the standard" for most Conn cornets to come up into the late 1990s, as the valves/valve casings, threads, braces, 3rd slide rings, and other parts remained mostly the same for a long time.

^ Later-model 18A Director cornet and valve type used ^

^ "Director" engraved on the bell of the instrument ^

^ Ad for 1980s Conn Directors: notice the font of the word "Director" is the same as that used on the instrument bells--note that the cornet and trumpet pictured don't have Amado water-keys ^

^ Conn 20A cornets--usually the 20B is more common, but later Conn cornets follow this design pattern ^

^ Conn 22A Director cornets--note different design [like the old 12A or new 34A] than the 1000A/etc. ^

^ Conn 1000A cornet from 1990--cornet version of the 1000B; note resemblance to the late 16A/18A and 20A ^

^ Conn 85A CONNstellation cornet; note resemblance to the late 16A/18A, 20A, and 1000A, as well as the King Legend 2220 cornet ^

^ Conn 1050A CONNquest cornet [from the later 90s]--note different design [like the old 12A or new 34A] than the 1000A/etc. ^

^ Conn 34A Victor cornets--notice design similarity to the 12A/King 600 series cornets; only cornet still produced by Conn ^