Tell me about these trombones!

I know that there is a 74H for sale in the classifieds right now, and that the 74H and 75H have been brought up a couple of times before that when discussing medium bores. I'm not really interested in purchasing one, I just want to know more about them, especially because there seems to be some discrepancies among the available information online (and we've never had a dedicated discussion thread for them!).

What I've found: 74H/75H manufactured 1979-1983, 76H Century manufactured 1983 only. 74H - red bell, no valve. 75H - red bell, valve. 76H - nickel plated?, no valve. Slides narrower and shorter than a 78H. All are always cited as being .522" bore.

However, the Conn Loyalist lists all 3 models as 3 1/2 bore, which is the size smaller than .522" (3 3/4 bore) and listed on that site as .5156". It could very well be a mistake on Conn Loyalist's part, but has anyone actually measured a slide on one of these with calipers?

Out of the three, I found the 75H the most fascinating because it appears to use the 50H's F attachment wrap. In fact, it looks entirely like a 50H (which IS listed in the Conn Loyalist as having the ~.522" 3 3/4 bore) except with a red bell and a brace on the main tuning slide.

So what's the deal with this trio? Are they offshoots of the 50H (which was introduced much earlier in 1965 as a Director "Bass") or totally different? Were these supposed to be Abilene Conn's replacement for the 78H/79H? Did they not sell very many?

And, most importantly, how do they play?

I owned a 76h once. It was unremarkable. Kind of bright for a medium bore. Intermediate quality. 8" bell do I remember correctly? The one I had was all yellow. 78h is also brighter than I would like, but I find the 79h ideal. Go figger.

What was the bell size on the 74/75? I thought I remembered the 74h being an 8 1/2" bell.

The 76H is much different than the 74/75H. As stated, it has a narrow slide and very tight through the goose neck and tuning slide. Almost seems like it was built in a 6H jig as far as dimensions go, but with larger bore and bigger bell.

I always viewed the 74 and 75 more as replacements for the 78H and 79H.

[quote="hyperbolica"]I owned a 76h once. It was unremarkable. Kind of bright for a medium bore. Intermediate quality.[/quote]

My thoughts exactly.

I've owned two near-mint 76H's. Both found new homes pretty quickly. I was glad to see them go.

[quote="hyperbolica"]What was the bell size on the 74/75? I thought I remembered the 74h being an 8 1/2" bell.[/quote]
My 74h has an 8.5" bell

I recently replaced an inner tube on my 74h and my tech mentioned it was .522. It was hard to find a tube that size, and it took him some time to track one down. I could have it wrong, but I'm pretty sure Getzen made the tube.

I don't know much more history on the horn other than what's been mentioned already. As far as how it plays, my 74h doesn't compare to the Elkhart 79h I have. The 79h does not have the original lead pipe in it, but that horn just pops. The second you put air into it the horn sparkles. I don't really know how to describe other than saying it's the best sounding & responding horn I've ever played. On the other hand, I really like the feel of my 74h. I'm a pretty aggressive and abrasive player that plays a lot of funk and brass band (new orleans) music. The 74h is able to support all the air I put into the horn. It's really hard to break the sound, and I think the 8.5" bell is the reason why. Because of that it's not good all scenarios, but I really enjoy playing the horn when i don't need to get that edgy sound. I still break can break the sound, but it take a lot more effort than my 3b.

Another thing is that the slides are different sizes on my 79h compared to the 74h. The 79h is wider and a little longer. The 74h has more of a 3b look to it. I'll do a side by side comparison with the original 79h lead pipe and see what I notice.

I Love my 74H and use it in a classical setting when the 1st part is in the high register. It would work for Bolero and I could use it for a forth coming Mahler 5 but I am on Bass for that.

I used to use it for 3rd chair in a big band but I now have a Besson 10-10 with an after market "F" section.

I was brought up on B&H/Besson small bore horns (0.487in bore) so I am used to the narrow slide.

Never had any thought about selling the 74H. I love it.

Cheers

Stewbones43

Thank you for all the replies!

Someone I know just measured a 75H in a shop and it came out .515". This seems to indicate that it is correctly listed as 3 1/2 bore on Conn Loyalist, and is not .522" (3 3/4 bore) as otherwise thought. Anyone else have access to one and a good set of calipers/bore gauges to measure?