It is hard for me to believe that given a company with a strong a reputation as Conn for Saxophones and Trombones, people would be dogging the Mexican production horns if there weren't are reason.A high level of Xenophobia is always possible.but who knows, my car is made in Mexico and it drives as well as any other. Perhaps this is incorrect.and this is just junk US production model - not an infamous "Mexi-Conn". ![]() marks 1960 as the year Conn Sax production moved to Mexico. (Rods on my Mark VII are quite flexible).Īnd yes I do use the internet to do research. Another positive is that the rods appear to be strong, like on my tenor. I can definitely say the following though: When I stand this recently received, "Mexi-Conn" Alto up next to my 1958 16M shooting star, which is in good repair, the engraving looks like junk, the finish looks like junk, the chrome work looks like junk, and the springs feel weak and unresponsive (slow).but I must admit, the pearls look to be in great shape. I have simply seen criticisms that their original workmanship was inconsistent, they got out of alignment relatively easily, and were annoying due to the high level of maintenance needed. I have never seen criticisms that MexiConns couldn't be put into good shape. There is definitely no sure fire way to know if this horn will play well unless I do the repair, and play it for a few months. Perhaps this instrument would play well if I spent 5 hours fixing it up, or paid a shop $300. You couldn't give them away Until I started buying some of the old school Conns from their heyday, I was like, who would ever want a conn.[that was like just 10 years ago so I think reputations die hard. I will say that I was in middle school in the 70s and Conn's reputation for very poor student instruments was everywhere. Pretty typical and I would guess similar to the likes of MacMillian back in the day.īack on topic, I have never held nor played a Mexiconn so cannot comment on them except to lament what Conn could have been if perhaps Danny Henkin had been able to purchase it in the late 60s. the industry was shrinking, margins were shrinking but they made to private owner a very rich man in the purchase then over the next few years of ineptness ran the company into the ground but not before bleeding it for lots of cash then selling it off for pennies on the dollar. The remaining numbers indicated the production number within the month.įrom 1987 on, the two-digit prefix number plus 50 will give you the year of manufacture.Click to expand.Yep, I used to work for one of the largest old line manufacturing conglomerates in the US they purchased the company I worked for which was out of their usual knowledge base. The fourth character indicated the instrument: The third character indicated the year within the decade (defined by the first letter). The second character indicated the month of the year The first character of the serial number indicated the decade In March of 1974 an alpha-numeric system was established: The years 1967 to March 1974 (when Conn moved their brass manufacturing to Abilene, Texas), is a period where at least some of the instruments were inferior in quality ![]() 1980-1986 numbers are inexact, and may relate only to student level trumpets/cornets
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