Regular readers already know I have an interest in horns from the 19th century, especially from Germany. When I saw this horn up for sale, I recognized the maker, Bopp, from a similar horn in the Dick Martz website. From that I knew that it could be a quality instrument, as Max Hess, Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony, played a Bopp horn way back in the day. And, beyond the very visible, hand hammered bell with the garland, it certainly had some interesting design features that caught my attention.
Overview
First off, this horn by August Bopp (1836 – ca.1914) of Munich is a single F, and probably dates to something like 1880. I say that as the Martz horn he estimates as being from around 1890, and this instrument has an older style of third valve slide setup.
You can’t easily tell this from the photos, but one critical angle on the horn is well off from the modern standard. There is a distance that you can measure between the mouthpiece receiver and the edge of the bell flare. Working on projects over the years, I have a “database” (list) of a number of horns and that critical distance, which impacts the angle of the leadpipe in relation to the bell. In the case of this Bopp horn, the angle is 2+ inches wider than you typically see, which is a bit uncomfortable for me. On the other hand, the left hand position with the valve cluster is closer than typical, which compensates somewhat. Both are intentional choices by the maker.
Where you really start noticing unique features is the back of the horn.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room — the lead pipe. It was made so that the final 8″ part is removable (!), and could be exchanged for potentially multiple available lead pipes. Visually it looks like a short natural horn crook (perhaps for Bb or C alto). Notice that there is no brace next to the lead pipe, it has never had one.
One big issue of the horn presently is that removable portion (the “crook”) is stuck. I used many applications of corrosion cracker, ultrasonic cleanings, mild heat — periodically for literally a year! — nothing got it loose. It’s not real visible in the picture, but the removable portion also had further damage from being bent significantly. Once I finally figured out I was not getting that part removed I worked out about half of the damage to that portion of the horn (to not be overly aggressive) as part of a goal of getting this horn playable, to see what I have.
Also of importance, the actual taper of the lead pipe is only that final 8″ portion. This is not typical of a F horn, normally the lead pipe taper is a least twice as long.
Not immediately obvious from the photo is the length of the remainder of the lead pipe extension (cylindrical tubing) is exceptionally long and there is no tuning slide between the mouthpiece and the valve section. It’s kind of an odd design, not used today. Would be hard to clean with a snake, as the main slide is on the other side of the valve section. That tubing did have one leak which I patched. It’s the only patch on the horn.
By the way, it is in F even with that big, looped tuning slide.
Oops
Then we get to the “engraving” on the bell. It is not engraved at all; the letters were punched in with letter punches by hand. And not very well, as the person doing it did not always have the punch in the correct direction. The horn in the Martz collection has similar punched markings, using very likely the same tools, but with no “oops.”
The valves
I have another horn with similar valves. They are very fast and light, so I was hoping this horn would operate as well.
First, check out the artistic valve levers. Have to wonder why some modern makers don’t make similar levers. The angle feels nice, and they look cool.
Notice that the bracket for the valve levers is soldered directly to the “top” of the valve casings. The rotary valves are made differently than modern valves, they open up for access only from the bottom.
This is what you see from the bottom. I had to scrounge but found a couple screws to use as replacements for missing screws. The cork bumpers rotate with the valves and hit a pin.
There are no witness marks to use to align the valves, but they are close to correct.
How does it play?
The high range is pretty solid — but the valves leak a lot. The result between that and the large dents in the ultra-short lead pipe is that the horn overall plays poorly. Boo.
I’m not a “wall hanger” guy when it comes to vintage horns, I’m always hoping for one that is a player. The Kalashen horn in this post, with similar valves, plays circles around the Bopp as it sits now.
For now I’ll let the Bopp sit and I’ll ponder it more. It would be nice if I could remove and fully repair that short lead pipe, but then again even if I did the horn has really leaky valves holding it back. Can’t win them all there, but at least it does have a nice visual design with unusual features, worthy of being in a collection.
