What is a Bach 415?

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baroquetrombone
Posts: 48
Joined: Apr 16, 2018

by baroquetrombone » (edited 2023-08-02 4:40 p.m.)

I know that the sixes can have 415 bells, but on German eBay there is (and has been for a long time) a NY Model 415. It looks more German than my NY 6., with what seems to be a longer slide (based on the spit valve only)of slightly different build and the little nipple thing at the top of the tuning slide. Seems to have a tiny bell though.

Just curious. :idk:
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baroquetrombone
Posts: 48
Joined: Apr 16, 2018

by baroquetrombone »

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ithinknot
Posts: 1339
Joined: Jul 24, 2020

by ithinknot »

Yeah, I'd seen that.

It's not "a Bach"... it's a mostly German frankenhorn with a Bach bell.

Early Bach flares sometimes just have the mandrel number stamped - in this case 415 - as opposed to a model designation.

The rest is German (some super-early Bach slides didn't look exactly like the later standards, but nothing like that one) and the penultimate photo shows the ultra-short neckpipe required to bring the bell section down to length with a typically German XLong donor slide. From the angle, I can't quite tell the extent to which the bell stem has been shortened vs the bell rim being out near 4th... but probably a bit of both. Apropos the description, looks more like silver than nickel to me, but stranger things (season 5 coming soon) have been known.
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baroquetrombone
Posts: 48
Joined: Apr 16, 2018

by baroquetrombone »

Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks. I sort of figured that it wasn't something "real" since it's been on there for so long, but I couldn't get past the bell stamp. I kept thinking that it was just a mandrel number, but had never known one to be stamped after "model."
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MaxPirone
Posts: 624
Joined: Mar 04, 2023

by MaxPirone »

415 was the number of the mandrel used for and was for the early bach NY 8 on mine was write mod.8 and 415

This aution was for an early 8 with a no bach slide absolutely
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Leanit
Posts: 160
Joined: Sep 04, 2018

by Leanit »

[quote="ithinknot"]Early Bach flares sometimes just have the mandrel number stamped - in this case 415 - as opposed to a model designation.[/quote]

Correct. You can't call it a 6 or an 8 or anything because everything was a prototype at that time. The bell mandrel became the "MODEL" designation, but the rest of the horn could be a range of specs. The shop card for my 401 shows it in and out of the shop a few times where things were changed before they got it the way somebody wanted. That was around 1930-1931.