Boston Bb Cornets
By the time that The Boston Musical Instrument Manufactory was
formed in 1869, Boston had been the center of the US brass
instrument industry for at least 20 years. The new company of
makers was a merging of the E.G. Wright and Graves & Co. shops
which had already had a close working relationship for almost two
decades. Most of the experienced workers were from German
musical instrument making families, the most important being Henry
Esbach and Louis Hartmann who became majority owners of the
business.
It was only about three years previous to the formation of the new
business that Wright started producing a piston valve version of his
very popular rotary valve Bb cornet (see Orchestra Model below).
Judging by the extreme rarity of these today, they must not have
been nearly as popular as the rotary valve cornets. Sometime in the
mid to late 1870s, a similar but newly designed cornet was
introduced and named "The Famous Three Star Cornet". The bore
size of the new model was .485" as compared to the earlier version
which was .462". The later Three Star cornets all seem to have a
bore size of .472" when the larger bore was only seen in the Two
Star cornets. So far we don't have much evidence showing whether
or not the two different bore sizes were offered in the Three Star
cornet concurrently. As in the earlier Boston cornets, the bell design
was an almost exact copy of the Courtois cornets. The Famous
Three Star Cornet continued in production in its original form until
about 1910 at which time it was lengthened to 13 1/2" and modified
with a fixed mouthpipe, single waterkey and A tuning slide pull.
Around the same time a companion long model cornet (16" long)
without shepherd's crook bell was added to the line.
Click on images to the left for more photos and information.
formed in 1869, Boston had been the center of the US brass
instrument industry for at least 20 years. The new company of
makers was a merging of the E.G. Wright and Graves & Co. shops
which had already had a close working relationship for almost two
decades. Most of the experienced workers were from German
musical instrument making families, the most important being Henry
Esbach and Louis Hartmann who became majority owners of the
business.
It was only about three years previous to the formation of the new
business that Wright started producing a piston valve version of his
very popular rotary valve Bb cornet (see Orchestra Model below).
Judging by the extreme rarity of these today, they must not have
been nearly as popular as the rotary valve cornets. Sometime in the
mid to late 1870s, a similar but newly designed cornet was
introduced and named "The Famous Three Star Cornet". The bore
size of the new model was .485" as compared to the earlier version
which was .462". The later Three Star cornets all seem to have a
bore size of .472" when the larger bore was only seen in the Two
Star cornets. So far we don't have much evidence showing whether
or not the two different bore sizes were offered in the Three Star
cornet concurrently. As in the earlier Boston cornets, the bell design
was an almost exact copy of the Courtois cornets. The Famous
Three Star Cornet continued in production in its original form until
about 1910 at which time it was lengthened to 13 1/2" and modified
with a fixed mouthpipe, single waterkey and A tuning slide pull.
Around the same time a companion long model cornet (16" long)
without shepherd's crook bell was added to the line.
Click on images to the left for more photos and information.
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