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Back in March (here) I posted about the new and improved Conn 8D for the 21st century. I have still yet to try one, so far as I know no example has made it to the Phoenix area, but I remain interested to try one of these and also the new 6D. This is also rather big news, the 6D is a venerable horn. It has also been redesigned and updated — noting especially that it is now being built as a Kruspe wrap.
Wait, the 6D now a Kruspe style horn? What?
I’m excited about this change. In 2021 I posted an article with the somewhat provocative title, “Could the Kruspe style horn come back?” The basic idea of the article was that there really are nice qualities to the Kruspe wrap, and you could make one that had essentially the same sound as a Geyer – and the best original Kruspe horns were not built huge, they had smaller throated bells than the 8D.
A brief history lesson
The new 6D is described in Conn website here. The 6D has significantly changed once before. As Conn relates,
The story of the Conn 6D begins in the early 1920s with the introduction of the original “6-D” model. Equipped with a piston change valve in the “Schmidt” style, this 6-D was Conn’s first double horn. The 6D was revised in 1935 with a rotary change valve to much acclaim, quickly becoming “…the favorite of big symphony players.”
The next-generation 6D takes the critical mouthpipe, first branch, and bell tapers of the historic 6D and pairs them with the chassis of the iconic Conn 8D.
The plain fact is that the 1935 redesigned 6D for a LONG time has been a cheaper, lower-level horn, and it was also built rather “big,” at least that is how it always felt in my hands. A big left hand would be helpful! To my mind I have never felt the 6D as produced in the recent past to be a good choice for a younger student, and clearly also it was not a good enough horn for even a good adult amateur. Over the years the 6D was seen I believe more and more as an oddball design with a strange tubing layout. They sold lots of them to schools over the years, due to the lower price point (it was the first horn I played!). I suspect even though the new horn is completely redesigned, they had to maintain the 6D designation (and the price point) to maintain a sales base for the horn.
The 1935 6D clearly had become a tired, old design of low interest to serious players. The image below is from a Conn parts manual ca. 1970, providing a nice overview of the familiar version of the 6D.
The new 6D
At long last Conn has gone big and made huge changes, changes that were long overdue. The new 6D is a yellow brass Kruspe style horn, with nickel-silver slide tubes and more.
Wait, isn’t this just a modern version of the 28D or 8DY?
Over the years Conn off and on (mostly Elkhart era) produced a model called the 28D. Essentially it was a brass 8D, originally made with a smaller throated bell. It was sold at the same price point as the 8D. A good Elkhart 28D carries some special value to the right buyer. The image below of a 28D is again from a Conn parts list, ca. 1970. In black and white you can hardly tell the difference between an 8D and a 28D.
Later (Eastlake era), a similar model was the 8DY, which was an 8D with a large yellow brass bell. The new 6D really is significantly different than the 28D and the 8DY models, it is based on different tapers. According to the introductory video (at the end of this article) the tapers in fact favor the Bb side, which will be a plus for some players and for sales.
More details
Although placed in the same “Professional” category in their website as the new 8D, the 6D occupies a lower price point, it is in the “Artist” series rather than the “Connstellation” series. I would still be really interested to see how it plays though, as I do believe that there is room in the market for a real, professional Kruspe in brass with the smaller throated bell. It may be a good starting point for customization.
There is no mention in the website of a CNC machined receiver (a feature of the new 8D), although the 6D pipe on the horn in their website has the visual look of the new 8D pipe. I should mention one minor disappointment — based on the photos in the video, it has no water key. They must have felt the minor cost saving of leaving this off helped them place the horn at a lower price point. But clearly the new 6D has benefitted with the updates in the 8D in various ways – bracing, improved manufacturing processes, etc.
Interested?
Some examples must be getting slowly out to dealers. The new 6D and the new 8D are certainly horns I look forward to trying soon. When I do, I’ll report on it further, as this really is big news in our horn world. The videos below tell more.
