Conn "7" (not "7B") mouthpiece - ebay

[WakinAZ]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255163747918?m ... media=COPY

I had one of these for years and have not seen any others anywhere else until now. Apparently at some point Conn did make Bach knockoffs. There is also another size listed by the same seller.

@hrender here's a rare chance at a backup...

Then again if Vincent Bach is owned by Conn-Selmer, I guess they wouldn't really be knock-offs - maybe just in-house stencils or rebadging like cars? Marketing

[hrender]

Much as I like to collect oddball mouthpieces, I don’t know if I need two of these. Thanks for thinking of me, though.

[bloke]

I remember when these were being sold. They weren't the cheapest knockoffs that were available at the time, but "good used" is different from comparing dealer wholesale prices.

Even though they weren't the cheapest knockoffs when they were sold, I really don't remember any other knock-off manufacturers offering a copy of the Bach 7 interior shape.

I'm thinking that - besides cranking those out with Conn stamped on them, there may have been another set of UMI knockoffs that actually looked like Bach mouthpieces on the outside - which were stamped Benge.

[hrender]

There were Bach clones stamped "Holton" including the 7. I have a "Holton 18" my son bought me years ago for my birthday using money he made from mowing lawns. It's a decent 18 clone, and I still use it occasionally today, although mostly for sentimental reasons.

[WakinAZ]

Much as I like to collect oddball mouthpieces, I don’t know if I need two of these. Thanks for thinking of me, though.

Dang, I was kind of hoping to hear that the Conn 7 had become one of your go-to 'pieces.

Although the idea of a big boy Bach mouthpiece appealed to me, neither the Bach 7 nor the Conn7 ever did anything for me that my other big mouthpieces didn't do better, at least on the horns I owned at the time.

An interesting look back into a small part of Conn history though.

[donn]

Bach 7 was the first tuba mouthpiece I bought. I had a Miraphone C4 and a Conn 2 that came with tubas, and to really get my lifelong pastime of acquiring tuba mouthpieces going, I went down to the music store on the corner (yes! they were all over the place!) and got that Bach 7. I liked it quite a bit. Unfortunately, the guy who bought my big Miraphone also liked it, so away it went, and it has been many years since I played one. Hm. Not sure I am €137 interested, though.

[donn]

Speaking of Conn 7B, I see one here - https://www.ebay.com/itm/394224031314 - in the sort of Denis Wick / Josef Klier exterior shape that I have seen before as Conn 1792-2 or UMI 2.

Conn 2 and 7B might have similar interior dimensions, as far as anyone has been able to report, but they should not have the same rim?

To add to the mystery ... or maybe subtract from it ... the pictured mouthpiece is engraved "JIGGS WHIGAM 1A", which would be a trombone mouthpiece.

[bloke]

I just went to the auction...

1.5 c-notes for a knock-off...!?!?

[matt g]

I just went to the auction...

1.5 c-notes for a knock-off...!?!?

Silly. I think a Bach 7 can be had for ~$100 still.

[WakinAZ]

Speaking of Conn 7B, I see one here - https://www.ebay.com/itm/394224031314 - in the sort of Denis Wick / Josef Klier exterior shape that I have seen before as Conn 1792-2 or UMI 2.

Conn 2 and 7B might have similar interior dimensions, as far as anyone has been able to report, but they should not have the same rim?

To add to the mystery ... or maybe subtract from it ... the pictured mouthpiece is engraved "JIGGS WHIGAM 1A", which would be a trombone mouthpiece.

I think that is an incorrectly sourced stock photo. And yes I have also read on the tuba forums that the interior specs are similar / same for the Conn 2, Helleberg 7B and Umi 2, but depending on whatever version of Conn was producing them at the time, they may not have wanted the rim profiles to be the same. When/if they reconfigured the the Conn 2 as the "Helleberg 7B" it seems they were trying to make it more Helleberg-like, thus the flatter rim. The UMI 2 rim is more rounded and probably more like the original Conn 2, which I have seen but never played myself, thus the similar name. All conjecture of course.

I just so happen to have a Umi 2 for sale here on the forum and on eBay if anyone's looking for one:
viewtopic.php?t=4709
https://www.ebay.com/itm/305011756945?m ... media=COPY

[donn]

I just went to the auction...

1.5 c-notes for a knock-off...!?!?

Silly. I think a Bach 7 can be had for ~$100 still.

It wouldn't be unusual for knockoffs to be slightly improved designs and/or made to higher standards. For example of Blessing's 18 (never seen one, but so they say.) The price might be lower, but that's more of a market position decision than an indication of "use value". In the present case, an item that has survived unblemished from the glorious past, an opportunity to start your own myth about the superiority of Conn's German made Bach knockoffs of yesteryear, shipped from mysterious Romania - for this modest price?

[bloke]

I think I would rather go to eBay and buy those $25 knock offs of Bach 22s and Hellebergs then to assume that Conn
- of amazing 5J fame - has a clue.

But it could also have to do with whether I'm one of those tuba players who vibrates their lips when they play or one who beats their lips against each other when they play.

[donn]

A high speed camera and transparent mouthpiece will tell the tale.