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Bachology

TO THE BACK OF THE CONCERT HALL
THE EVOLUTION OF BACH STRADIVARIUS C TRUMPETS
Part Two
(Roy Hempley and Doug Lehrer)

SYNOPSIS OF PART ONE

Bach made just over 70 C trumpets between 1925 and the beginning of World War Two. The period was one of almost continual experimentation. From smaller bore, short C trumpets, Bach systematically progressed through larger and larger bore sizes and longer C trumpets while trying to find the right combination of components (bells and mouthpipes) to produce the sound he was seeking.

Bach was greatly influenced in his efforts by Mager and other French-born trumpet players in the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Through extensive modification and design, Bach finally produced some high quality C trumpets closer to his liking, but World War Two stopped his efforts. By that time, however, he had a good start on the layout of his C trumpets. On the other hand, he did not have adequate components to match either the layout he was using or the larger bore sizes. He had not finished the job by the time the war arrived.

OVERVIEW OF PART TWO

Part Two of this article continues the description the evolution of Bach's C trumpets. It describes approximately 450 trumpets. Because of the numbers, the data were more difficult to assemble. Once that was done, however, the analysis was much easier than that of Part One because Bach’s approach became clearer.

The post-war story actually starts during World War Two when there was an important collaboration between Bach and Mager. That is discussed first. Before Bach could put the results of that effort into production after the war, he produced a few C trumpets in the pre-war 1942 configuration to tide him over. The project with Mager failed, and almost immediately, Bach took out a clean sheet of paper and started anew. This time he had an advantage. He knew what not to try, and his efforts were successful as a characteristic sound he liked emerged. From then on, Bach’s efforts were refinements trying to better good results.

Before starting through a narrative of Bach’s developments, three associated pairs of charts are presented to lay out Bach's entire production of post-war C trumpets. Each pair describes the production schedules of a specific bore size from the end of World War Two until he sold his company in 1961. Data are extracted from these charts to focus on major developments over those years.

DURING WORLD WAR TWO

During World War Two, all but the barest of C trumpet development efforts stopped. Materials were hard to get, and Bach's workers were either drafted into the military or moved to higher paying war production jobs. Only a limited amount is known about how Bach kept his plant in operation, but there is evidence that he managed to spend some time working on new ideas for his C trumpets.

Part One establishes an enduring relationship between Bach and Mager that dated back to the 1920s. Then in 1943 the two collaborated on a C trumpet design that altered Bach’s concepts. The idea from this collaboration seemed to fit better with Bach's notions, at least temporarily.

The immediate result of this collaboration was a modified Bach Stradivarius C trumpet, #4071. Discussed to some extent in Part One, this was one of the many trumpets originally modified in Bach’s 1938 experimental trials.

Trumpet #4071 was modified for the second time in 1943. The main alteration was an altered telescoping tuning slide that fit more with Bach's ideas about such “conical” slides, as Bach tended to call them. The shop card for this trumpet is one of the most detailed cards Bach left. The modifications are shown on the shop card below.

This card is a newer style card than the cards of other trumpets with similar serial numbers. The original card from May of 1938 might have explained the modifications made at that time too, but it is no longer in Bach’s files. At least the newer card was filled in with relevant data for the November 1943 modification.

For this trumpet, Bach made all of the important entries on its card himself. The most important observation is the use of standard Bach bore sizes for components of the telescoping tuning slide, i.e., from 0.453 to 0.459 inches. This is a medium-large bore trumpet, so these dimensions can be compared to those of the medium-large bore trumpets in the 1940 Suite (Part One), which are quite different. This trumpet should be considered a "transitional" C trumpet from previous telescoping tuning slide schemes to one many readers would be familiar with, i.e., the scheme used in Bach's Vindobona trumpets. Those trumpets use standard bore size diameters for the tuning slide components also.

In addition to the dimensions of the telescoping tuning slide, this trumpet is noted to have a very thin bell, about 0.016 inches thick, as indicated by the gauge code 40. It also has an adaptation of the #7 Bb mouthpipe on it. The mouthpipe is naturally shorter than the #7 mouthpipe used on Bb trumpets, but the taper is the same with the possible exception that the small opening may have been enlarged slightly. This trumpet became the basis for a short-lived design effort in 1946.

Interestingly, the shop card for trumpet #4071 indicates that this was Mager's C trumpet. As discussed in Part One, this trumpet is the trumpet he was using when Herseth began studying with him after World War Two.

As mentioned above, eight large-bore 1942 Models were made in 1945. These probably were identical to trumpet #5379 (Part One), but four of them were later modified, and one of them became an X Horn (see Reference 5) and was given a new serial number that would make it appear to be a late Mt Vernon model. These trumpets are shown on the first chart presented below.

AFTER WORLD WAR TWO

The charts that follow set the stage for discussing important advances in Bach's C trumpets. There are three pairs of associated charts spanning the period from the end of the war until Bach sold his company near the end of 1961. The first pair describes Bach's production of large bore C trumpets. The eight 1942 Model trumpets discussed immediately above are shown as the earliest entry on the top chart in that pair. The next two pairs of charts similarly describe production of medium-large and medium bore C trumpets.

The top chart is an interval chart somewhat similar to the one presented in Part One except that it contains information only for large bore trumpets. Production intervals (in yellow) for each configuration (in blue) are shown. The number of trumpets made in each configuration (in red) is included in their respective production interval boxes. The bottom chart shows the cumulative number of large bore Bach C trumpet made by the end of the year indicated.

It may not be obvious how to correlate time on the two charts. The eight large bore C trumpets made during 1945, as indicated in the top chart, are shown on the bottom chart above the 1945 tick mark. Showing dates of an interval chart on the same time scale as a production year end-date chart causes an apparent contradiction, but it makes for a useful correlation.

On the lower production rate chart, the lines connecting the end points of each year on the production chart are not meant to indicate the rate at which trumpets were made during the year. They do, however, indicate overall trends from year to year.

Two more pairs of charts follow: one pair for medium-large bore and medium bore C trumpets.

There are a lot of observations that might be made from the three pairs of charts before selecting major configurations to discuss. One of the keys to understanding these charts can be found in the post-war redesign points as indicated on the overall production chart in Part One. Those points were around 1947, just before Bach’s move to Mt Vernon in 1953 and in the middle of Mt Vernon production around 1956/7. Most observations regarding Bach’s C trumpet production relate to time periods defined by these end points and the sale of his company. There are three such periods. They are referred to in the following as the late New York period, the early Mt Vernon period and the late Mt Vernon period.

It is obvious from the large bore charts above that large bore C trumpet production accelerated at the end of World War Two and continued at about the same rate upward except for the years just preceding the move to Mt Vernon in 1953. About 180 large bore C trumpets were produced.

Medium-large bore C trumpet production increased somewhat during the early Mt Vernon years but accelerated greatly during late Mt Vernon years. The production rate in this last production period was so high that Bach ended up producing more medium-large bore C trumpets than large bore trumpets—about 210.

Medium bore C trumpets almost disappeared from Bach’s consideration. The charts show continued stagnation of medium bore C trumpet production carrying over from the mid-1930s. Only sporadic production is evident until the late Mt Vernon period when medium bore C trumpets rejoined Bach’s offerings in some earnestness.

Major Developments After World War Two

The period immediately following World War Two was hectic for Bach. Essentially he had to start his business over again. In particular, he had to train almost an entirely new workforce. That probably accounts for him starting with trumpets he worked on before and during the war.

Looking at the three interval charts, it is obvious that Bach’s initial focus was on large bore C trumpets as it had been immediately before the war. The first trumpets made were the eight 1942 Models using the #106 cornet bell. The next ones (12 in all) were based on Bach’s collaboration with Mager—10 large bore and 2 medium-large bore. As with the 1942 Models, no specialized bell was available, so the #11 bell was used. It is obvious from the data, however, that when Bach’s business began to recuperate, he began experimenting again.

Almost Down The Wrong Path

Part One mentioned three technical drawings important to understanding Bach's C trumpet development. The first drawing discussed in that part was identified as the 1925 Drawing. Bach's wartime collaboration with Mager resulted in the second of the three drawings. The boilerplate from that drawing, called in this article the 1946 Drawing, is shown below. Included in the boilerplate are some aspects Bach expected to use in these C trumpets. From other information on the drawing, the focus was to be C trumpets he called a “special light weight" trumpets with "conical" tuning slide.

For his telescoping tuning slides, Bach chose an approach based on his modification to Mager's trumpet, #4071. The major difference between that trumpet and the 10 production large bore trumpets is that expansion of the tuning slides used three of Bach's standard bore sizes instead of two. The dimensions are shown in the boilerplate beginning with his medium bore size (0.453 inches) in the upper tuning slide leg, moving to his medium-large bore size (0.459 inches) in the crook and then moving to large his bore size (0.462 inches) in the lower tuning slide leg. Two more trumpets with the same bell and mouthpipe were made in medium-large bore size. These two are thought to have been made to the same design except for the bore size and were probably quite similar to Mager’s trumpet except for the bell.

As for Bach’s reference to "light weight" on the drawing, the bell thickness at 0.018 inches may not be the only thing about the trumpet design that might be considered lightweight. In 1947, Bach began making Bb and, perhaps, C trumpets designated as “special light weight”. The brass in the tuning and valve slides of these trumpets was thinner than normal. On the other hand, the 1946 Drawing calls for brass of standard thickness. Since none of these trumpets were located, neither the bell brass thickness nor the actual slide thickness in the 12 trumpets has been verified one way or the other.

As far as the drawing is concerned, no specific bell was designated for these trumpets, but the #7 mouthpipe was specified. As shown on the interval charts, the #11 bell was used, but the drawing did not specify a bell choice. Bell #11 was not designed for these trumpets. It was introduced in the early 1930s for medium bore Mercedes trumpets and eventually adapted for use on Stradivarius medium-large bore trumpets and large bore cornets. This is another case where Bach did not appear to be prepared with a bell specifically designed for large bore C trumpets.

Efforts to correlate the data on this drawing to the shop cards were only partially successful. As for whether this was the first time Bach used this telescoping scheme on large bore trumpets will have to be determined by investigating his Bb trumpet line.

To summarize this effort, 12 trumpets were found that were probably made to the specifications of the 1946 Drawing design with some exceptions. Ten of them were large bore trumpets and two were medium-large bore trumpets. Many of these trumpets were modified. Four shop cards actually identify the respective trumpets as 1946 Models despite a noted discrepancy in the bell brass thickness. Only two of that four indicated that no modifications were made to the trumpets. In a very real sense, a good case can be made that none of the 1946 trumpets were ever made exactly as specified in the technical drawing because of discrepancies between the drawing and the data shown on the shop cards. A trumpet to verify the data on the drawing could not be found.

Prominent Late New York C Trumpet Configurations

The years 1946 and 1947 were characterized by extensive experimenting to find components to go with designs eventually documented in Bach’s 1948 Drawing. He tried the #226 and #231 bells in 1946 and #227, #229 and #231 bells in 1947. He coupled those with three different mouthpipes: #7, #207 and #209, but all of those mouthpipes were holdovers from before the war. (The components can be correlated with bore sizes by examining the three interval charts shown above.) In all, Bach tried seven new configurations over the two years--four large bore, two medium-large bore trumpets and one medium bore. A listing of Bach’s efforts is not as important as the results. The most important point is that the picture began to clear in 1947 with the introduction of the #229 bell for his large bore C trumpets and the #227 bell his for medium-large bore trumpets.

The boiler plate of the 1948 Drawing, the most important of the three Bach C trumpet drawings, is shown below. This drawing was completed early in 1948, but trumpets were made in accordance with its standards before that year.

The drawing itself was made using a new technique. Bach began putting his measurement on transparencies. That data could be changed fairly easily. Then the transparency could be overlaid on a technical drawing of a trumpet. The technical drawings had no measurements on them. Photographing both the transparency and the underlying drawing created a completed drawing with new data. This was an advantage to Bach because it reduced clutter on the drawing currently in use, but these drawings lost the "history" of the design changes as they occurred. For this reason, the 1948 Drawing is not as informative as the 1925 Drawing. Moreover, the last changes made to the 1948 Drawing appear to stem from 1948 when, in fact, they actually show data representing late Mt Vernon designs. As a result, Conn-Selmer considers it to contain proprietary information. The drawing does contain known omissions, however.

To read any of the three drawings accurately, most particularly the 1948 Drawing, instruments have to be compared to help verify the data. Readers with a greater interest in Bach C trumpets might want to know that research done on Chicago C trumpets was done using the 1948 Drawing. As mentioned above, the data on the 1948 Drawing represents the late Mt Vernon design, and of course the Chicago Cs were made before then. The differences had to be determined by examining instruments in order to recreate the layout specific to those trumpets. (This story can be reviewed in Reference 7.)

FINALLY--TO THE BACK OF THE CONCERT HALL

The two most important configurations to emerge between during the late New York period are shown below.

(A) 1947 - 1950: #229 Bell/#7 Mouthpipe--0.462-Inch Bore
(B) 1947 - 1948: #227 Bell/#7 Mouthpipe--0.459-Inch Bore

Thirty two large bore trumpets in configuration (A) were made over a four-year period. Exactly half that number of medium-large bore trumpets was made in configuration (B) over a two-year span. While the bells were different, both configurations used a version of the #7 mouthpipe. The layouts of the trumpets in the two configurations are identical in almost all respects.

One of the trumpets in configuration (A), #7352, is owned and used by George Vosburgh, the principal trumpet player in the Pittsburgh Symphony. Vosburgh came to Pittsburgh from the Chicago Symphony where he used that symphony’s Chicago C. Trumpet #7352 was his second trumpet when he played in Chicago.

In many respects, trumpets in configuration (A) appropriately can be considered the forerunner of the Chicago Cs. A picture of trumpet #7352 is shown below. It was not examined in detail for this article. The photograph was taken in Pittsburgh.

Fortunately, a trumpet from configuration (B), #7712, was located for examination. It is shown at the top in the photograph below. A relatively minor difference between it and the trumpet shown above lies in the first valve slides. Both feature first-valve tuning, but the parts were made in different styles even though the trumpets were built only a couple of months apart.

The layout of trumpet #7712 and, by extension, the trumpet shown above (#7352) can be compared to the 1942 large bore models represented by #5379 featured in Part One. Trumpet #5379 is below trumpet #7712 in the photograph below.

Trumpet #7712’s longer tuning slide assembly is moved further to the rear, which essentially completes the changeover from short model to long model C trumpets. Its tuning slide assembly is actually 1/8 inch longer than that of trumpet #5379, but that does not account entirely for the position of its mouthpiece receiver compared to that of trumpet #5379. Although difficult to see, the layout of trumpet #7712 has other adjustments in the bell bend and bell length to complete the changeover to the newer design.

One interesting feature of trumpet #7712 is the first valve tuning arrangement. The reason for noting this is that this tuning slide was complex to manufacture requiring at least two additional parts compared to other late New York and Mt Vernon trumpets.

The post-war trumpets, including #7712, represent a marked departure in sound characteristics from the earlier ones. These trumpets have substantial carrying power as well as desirable tone qualities at both ends of the power spectrum. They also serve to break Bach completely from both French and German influences. These, in fact, are the first trumpets to achieve the Bach sound often spoke of regarding Bach C trumpets.

Prominent Early Mt Vernon C Trumpet Configurations

Unlike the experiments immediately after World War Two, new experiments leading into Mt Vernon production was done on medium-large bore trumpets. It these, Bach tried the #228 and #236 bells and #25 mouthpipe in various combinations. These experiments also included adaptations of other post-war successes, most notably the #229 bell. Astute readers will note that the #25 mouthpipe was first used on the medium-large bore trumpets. This was Bach’s first post-war mouthpipe used on his C trumpets.

Bach liked the #25 mouthpipe. When production in Mt Vernon began in 1953, he featured it on both his large and medium-large bore trumpets coupled with the #229 bell. It is tempting to say that the #25 mouthpipe was the second adaptation of a Bb mouthpipe for C trumpet use. That is not actually known. Just as the medium-large bore size was first used on C trumpet (rather than a Bb trumpet), the #25 mouthpipe may have been first used on a C trumpet also. The answer to the question about which use came first will have to wait until an analysis of Bach's Bb trumpets can be completed.

Readers interested in additional information on the #25 mouthpipe should read through Reference 7. There are at least four known versions of this mouthpipe. Finding the most obscure one required measuring instruments instead of relying on technical data in Bach's files. A major point is that the #25 mouthpipes used during this period of manufacturing are not the same as those being made today. At least one of them was very unusual.

In effect, Mt Vernon production began with two new configurations. Those are noted below.

(C) 1952 - 1955: #229 Bell/#25 Mouthpipe--0.462-Inch Bore
(D) 1953 - 1956: #227 Bell/#25 Mouthpipe--0.459-Inch Bore

These two designs became the mainstays of early Mt Vernon production. These early trumpets were also modernized in more subtle ways too. Some of those will be illustrated in the photograph below.

The above photograph shows trumpet #7712 on top with one of the Chicago C-style trumpets, #13964, below it. (Trumpet #13964 is the featured trumpet from Reference 7.)

The most notable change to trumpet #13,964 is its slightly increased tuning slide width compared to trumpet #7712. Alterations in other areas compensated for the increase in acoustical length in the tuning slide.

As unusual as it is for a Bach trumpet of this era, the first valve tuning on trumpet #13964 is original although not standard for early Mt Vernon trumpets.

Mt Vernon also brought new production efficiencies. As mentioned earlier, it took two less parts to manufacture the first valve tuning arrangement on Mt Vernon trumpets compared to some of the late New York models. The Mt Vernon trumpets also streamlined the designs in that some adornments were eliminated. For example, a ring on the rear of the third valve tuning slide is visible on trumpet #7712 in the above photograph. That ring no longer appears on the early Mt Vernon trumpets.

Prominent Late Mt Vernon Trumpet Configurations

Bach went through one more alteration to his C trumpets at Mt Vernon during 1956 and 1957. He tried bells #237, #238 and #239, but no new mouthpipes of interest were tried. Bach did resurrect his medium bore C trumpets coupling his earlier #236 bell with the #25 mouthpipe for the first time. Despite the fact that 25 medium bore C trumpets were made with this combination of components, this particular configuration is not considered a major development. Bach seems to have introduced it as a matter of completeness to his line of trumpets before he sold his company.

(E) 1956 - 1961: #239 Bell/#25 Mouthpipe--0.462-Inch Bore
(F) 1957 - 1961: #239 Bell/#25 Mouthpipe--0.459-Inch Bore

Production quantities increased during the late Mt Vernon period to over 40 C trumpets per year. Over 80 percent of the large bore trumpets were produced in configuration (E) described above. It is a little more difficult to cite configuration (F) as the sole important configuration for medium-large bore trumpets. Over 30 medium-large bore trumpets were made with #237 bells and #25 mouthpipes and over another 30 were made with #238 bells and #25 mouthpipes. Given the timing and number trumpets made in configuration (F) (over 90 trumpets), however, it has to be considered the most important.

The most notable feature of the above configurations is that they both use the same bell and mouthpipe. While this is the not the first instance of using the same components for different bore sized instruments, it is perhaps the most surprising. There is one other surprising aspect of these and the other late Mt Vernon C trumpets. Bach discontinued use of the #229 bell after this last design change. Said another way, he considered the #239 bell the appropriate bell for his late Mt Vernon C trumpets.

Major Alteration--Tuning Slide Width Increased--Again

The late Mt Vernon trumpets (both Bb and C) changes are recognizable to most trumpet players. The major change of course was in the width of the tuning slide. This change was larger than the width increase heading into Mt Vernon. It fact, it was about 50 percent greater than the earlier increase. That, in turn, forced a redesign of the entire layout of Bach’s trumpets. Among other changes, the bell bend and mouthpipe assembly dimensions were altered to compensate. As an item of interest, this change shortened the mouthpipe itself by a quarter of an inch. The commonly accepted six-inch Bach mouthpipe resulted from this alteration.

The photograph shown below illustrates the change in layout on the late Mt Vernon trumpets.

The above photograph is spliced from two individual photographs taken at different times and under obviously different lighting conditions. Nonetheless, the increased width of the tuning slide on the late Mt Vernon trumpet on the bottom, #17635, is obvious when it is compared to that of early Mt Vernon trumpet, #13960. The two trumpets represent the change from the early to late Mt Vernon designs. The difference in the bell bends is not discernible. The change in the length of the mouthpipe assembly would be more obvious had these two trumpets been compared on a pegboard as in the other comparative photographs presented in this article.

The Last Years

Bach’s sale of his company to the Selmer Company was in the planning for at least two years and maybe longer. No major work was done on Bach’s C trumpets during this period. Ownership changed hands in early October 1961. Other efforts were underway for the transition and even the introduction of some new models (Minerva).

No research has been done on Bach’s C trumpet during the Selmer Company’s ownership at Mt Vernon. C trumpets made from 1961 until the move to Elkhart are probably identical to those of Bach’s late Mt Vernon manufacturing period. Bach’s last configuration of large bore trumpets using the #239 bell and #25 mouthpipe,configuration (F), is still identified as the standard large bore Bach C trumpet configuration today despite the popularity of the #229 bell.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Steve Hendrickson, principal trumpet player with the National Symphony Orchestra, took it upon himself to act as tutor, spending hours impressing the needs of the modern orchestral player and how trumpets of various manufacturers help meet those needs. George Vosburgh, principal trumpet player of the Pittsburgh Symphony, spent considerable time discussing Bach trumpet design. Exchanging views on this subject was a highlight of the research for this article. Tom Rolfs, Jr, principal trumpet player with the Boston Symphony Orchestra provided help researching the BSO archives, and Douglas Yeo, bass trombonist with the BSO, provided BSO history from his Web site and by e-mail. Bud Herseth spent time discussing his involvement with Georges Mager, Vincent Bach and his early experiences in joining the Chicago Symphony. Gil Mitchell, a personal friend of Vincent Bach, provided information about his entry into the orchestral world as well as his insights about Bach. Tilden Olsen, trumpet student at Carnegie Melon University, and Chris Culpeppers answered requests for research instruments published in the Bachology section of Conn-Selmer’s Web site. Major support was provided by Tedd Waggoner, Director of Bach Operations at Conn-Selmer, Inc. He provided access to Bach data that can be found sprinkled liberally throughout this article.

For additional insights into help and support in writing this article, please see the Addendum.

CONTACT THE AUTHORS

Roy Hempley
7783 Turlock Road
Springfield, VA 22153
rhempley@verizon.net

Doug Lehrer
1601 Silver Creek Circle
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
douglehrer@dtgnet.com