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Conn just dropped some big news on the horn world, that they have upgraded the venerable 8D model horn, following extensive focus group testing of design upgrades with professional hornists who are fans of the 8D.
A quick look back
First, one of my more popular articles on the site looks at the original Conn 8D and the evolution of the design over the years:
In honor of the original horn, below is part of an ad dating to ca. 1939, when the design was new. The 8D was for many years a standard horn used by many pros in the USA, but times have changed.
Recapturing the magic of a classic horn
A goal of their redesign process was to meet or exceed the playing qualities of a specific “holy grail” N series 8D, and to produce an 8D for the 21st century market. A video explaining all this was part of the release package, which will be linked at the end of this article.
Wait, a water key?!?
This is where this writer really began paying attention to the video, as clearly this redesign was a serious venture. Because adding a water key to the 8D was the most obvious upgrade ever! Over many years, it was very clear that Conn was very reluctant to change anything that obvious on the horn. Was the 8D not already the perfect design, in need of no changes? And they sold every instrument they made, so why change anything?
But of course, the design had drifted over many years. It was accepted as a given that pretty much any 8D made after they closed the Elkhart plant in 1969 would not be the choice of a pro, and, besides, in general horns that are over 50 years old also are not typically the ideal horn of choice for a real working pro.
The big change/upgrade: the leadpipe
Recognizing that same fact, the big change for this new 8D is that the first section of the leadpipe is now being machined on a CNC lathe instead of being opened up by hand. Opening the end of the receiver up by hand is traditional, but relies on the skill of an individual to get this area up to a critical spec.
This is a huge change of production method, but one that I know at least one custom maker out there is already doing. That maker purchased a high-end lathe to be able to exactly machine the critical tapers of the first portion of the leadpipe, which they connect to the remainder of the leadpipe made in the traditional way. This seems to also be what Conn is doing now. The result is a critical area of the horn should be consistently and exactly built up to specs. This is a huge upgrade and improvement to the horn.
[Variations in various areas of a horn, especially this one, is also why Conn felt the need to define a “holy grail” N series horn to use to test against the new designs. Some small number of horns were made really closely to ideal specs, but many if not most instruments were out of spec in various ways — even in the best Elkhart production years.]
Updating the bell and the bending process
Besides updating the bell mandrel to match the original specs for the 8D (they determined that the mandrel was far out of spec after all the years), Conn has also upgraded how the branches are bent. They had been bent the traditional way by filling with pitch and bending by hand. As with traditional leadpipe manufacture, this process inserts some variability into the exact results, as the tube will tend to get out of round. The modern process now used should deliver tubing that is exactly up to specs. Another game changer; thousandths of an inch matter.
One thing not upgraded was the alloy, they determined with blind testing that the modern Nickel Silver used actually sounds better than the original alloy used on Elkhart built instruments.
Improving the “look,” and the bracing
In addition, when you look at the video and the updated Conn website, they have improved the look compared to recent production horns from Eastlake, with classic design valve caps in particular. Any Conn 8D fan with a good eye will be able to easily spot this new 8D compared to prior versions (including the recently made Vintage 8D, which appears to now be out of production) due to these valve caps and updated bracing choices, chosen to produce the best end product.
Is it too little too late?
It certainly was time to get these changes out there on the market. I’m also certainly interested in trying one of these to see how it compares to an Elkhart 8D. A new horn with all the best qualities of a low milage, classic 8D is certainly one that a lot of people will want to give a good look at; we at Horn Matters do wish them the best with this reborn classic horn for the 21st century.
The new 8D is described further in the Conn website here. And the video is below, well worth watching, with the area of most interest starting around the 1:45 point.
UPDATE: And just like that, the video does not work; Conn turned it into a restricted post. No idea why such an informative video on a new product was taken down. However, if you go to the Conn website for info on the 8D horn at the link given in the previous paragraph, there is a shortened version of the video there.
