Vintage Refurbished Satin and Brushed Holton Al Hirt cornet-trumpet + case + mpc

Description

A Great playing RARE American made horn that was designed by Al Hirt and is a real beauty!!!
This horn has a Lacquered Satin body and Brushed slides and bell interior with polished caps and hardware!!!
This is a wonderfully made Al Hirt Special cornet from Holton. Frank Holton opened his third-floor two-room Chicago shop in 1898. Formerly first trombonist in Sousa’s band, Holton achieved initial success with his legendary slide-oil formula, Electric Oil, which is still popular today. Soon Holton began experiments to improve his brass instrument designs.
By 1900, the Frank Holton Company was producing several models of trombones, cornets, trumpets and euphoniums, as well as percussion instruments. The company continued to expand, and in 1917 Holton moved his company to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where it has remained as the country’s oldest continually operating wind instrument company. The Holton Company is now part of Conn-Selmer and has no cornets or trumpets being sold.
The serial number on this cornet is 414454, which should date the horn to 1967. Many of the Holton horns made before the 1970’s are still in use because of their wonderful pro qualities. When I got this one it looked terrible with a detached third slide and missing braces. But these are rare and not many exist anymore so I had to fix it and make it beautiful again. I stripped the old lacquer and then fixed the dents and dings and burnished the bell tube. I put solder work and found some original parts from a donor cornet. Then it was ultrasonically cleaned and polished. The body was shot with glass bead to give it a nice warm look. I then applied a brushed finish to the slides and bell interior, and added a coat of clear lacquer to protect it all. The caps, buttons, and hardware was polished. The horn is good looking, and great sounding, with a very full and mellow sound. The slides still have a few tiny pings but they don’t affect the looks or sound. There are a few dings and ripples from dent removal on the crook and
lead pipe. The construction is clearly PRO style and it is built to play! Al Hirt gave some help in the design of these horns. They play with a nice mellow sound and have great projection and intonation. The bell engraving is good but the signature is faint and reads:
"
Frank Holton & Co.”
"
Al Hirt”
“Special”
"ELKHORN, WIS.”
"
U.S.A.”
The old Holton horns always have wonderful full tones with a big projecting sound, and this one is no exception. I have played this horn while I was doing the work on it, and for several months before, and hate to give it up (Melanie said I sound great on this horn, lol, as always). The bell is 4 13/16” and it has a big sound projection. The lead pipe and slides are solid nickel and it has an open blow and nice dark tone. The sound radiates out the front of the horn and projects superbly! It plays well in all registers and pretty much in tune. It's in excellent mechanical condition - all the tuning slides work smoothly, including the first and third which are usually frozen and require some kind of repair. There are NO missing pull tabs on the slides (rare in a used horn). The valves work freely and have some very quiet nylon valve guides that are in great shape. There is also very little plating wear on them. The valves also have new felts on the inside and tops. The third valve slide has new “O” rings to quiet it on return, when using the throw ring. There are no longer any large dents in any of the tubing and as we said earlier, just a few small dings from normal wear that we felt were too small to remove and a few ripples from dent removal on the bell tube and crook (see the bell and lead pipe pictures and look close at the lead pipe and under the crook). The horn has new spit valve corks also. It is ready to PLAY! The horn was not buffed so there was NO metal loss in the restoration! The cornet has the ORIGINAL Faux Alligator covered hard sided case. Look at the pictures and you can see it is brown outside and a plush red color inside. It has been sprayed for a slight mildew smell and should be good to go. There is a spot for your mouthpiece and it holds the horn well. There is an area next to the horn to hold your valve oil and accessories. Also included is a good mouthpiece, with some shank wear to the silver. This is your chance – there are lots of cornets made in China and India that play terribly. Why buy one of those for 9.00 or more or spend upwards of 00 for a conventional cornet that won’t play half as well as this one? Take a look...it’s a great horn for a student, intermediate player, comeback player, pro player, or someone wanting a horn that is rare and has history. Winning Bidder pays shipping of .00 in the lower 48 states. Other shipping is per the chart.
Don’t miss this wonderful classic part of Holton history that plays GREAT!!!
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NOW
: I am taking on horns for refinish and repairs. I have done well over 1000 horns and am sure you will be happy with the results. Our feedback shows WE TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS! Please e-mail me with questions or work you need.
And HEY, have a great day!