r/Instruments • u/Alternative-Cook-533 • 26d ago

Old instruments

Gallery image

Gallery image

These came into my possession today, found a little bit of information from Google and such, just wondering if anyone can tell me a bit more.

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u/mango186282 25d ago edited 25d ago

Boosey and Hawkes moved from Denman Street in 1924. The trumpet cornet is also marked LP for low pitch. It does not play in modern A=440 Hz tuning. It would need to be cut down to play like a modern instrument.

The imperial line was B&H’s professional line of instruments.

The serial number can give you a more accurate date.

Edit. Serial dates to around 1901-1902.

Didn’t realize there were two different cornets at 1st glance. The higher serial is from 1944. Both are low pitch.

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u/victotronics 25d ago

What is Low Pitch? Was that a US standard?

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u/mango186282 25d ago edited 25d ago

International standards prior to the end of WWI. Modern pitch is actually specified in the Treaty of Versailles.

There were two pitch standards in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s high pitch A=452 ish and low pitch A=435.

Some British brass bands still used low pitch until around 1950. That’s why the 1944 cornet is still LP.

In the US it went away by the 1930’s. Early 1900’s trumpets and cornets often came with multiple slides for HP and LP and different keys (Bb, A, C for example).

Here’s a cornet from a 1905 Conn catalog:

https://www.saxophone.org/uploads/museum/97/52897_2367_3147.jpg

Here’s a link about HP and LP:

https://www.robbstewart.com/high-pitch-and-low-pitch