• FRENCH (straight) taper Also known as Couesnon Taper. Flip Oakes 'Wild Thing,' Kanstul CCF 925, and original F. Besson flugelhorns.Important Note. This horn is the bomb! No other flugel compares with the sound of Couesnon Flugel! Couesnon Flugelhorn, SN# 75512 On the 2nd Valve It's stamped 'N'. Serial number 18900 - 1952. I have 2 Couesnon Monopoles. One is only a few numbers from yours. Couesnon Monopole.

I recently bought a Couesnon Monopole Conservatoires alto sax with serial number 11103. It came with a 'CERTIFICAT D'ESSAI ET DE GARANTIE', printed on Monopole Conservatoire certificate paper, with the serial number 11103 written in by hand, dated in Paris by hand November 15, 1960, and signed and stamped by M. On the same stamp as the name M.

Besson Meha also previously made by Kanstul, though like the Brevette, its status is uncertain. It remains in the Besson catalog. If large bore flugels are attractive to you, and you can find new old stock or a used one from the 1990s, go for it, like the Brevette, they are solid high quality horns.

There is no known record of the serial numbers of the old Couesnons ( pronounced 'que-non,' in case you don't know). Their records were destroyed by fire in 1969, and the horns have switched hands so much, no one really knows anything about the Couesnon dating. In fact, all the writtings and engravings on the bell, and the numbers really don't have a pattern ( wonder who was the dumbass who thought that up? 'Hey, lets just confuse the hell out of our descendants by putting numbers in strange places! That'll show those flying-car riding bastards!' The older ( 1890-1930, I'm guessing) horns ( and by that I mean trumpets, not knowledgeable on the flugels, percussion and woodwinds) had the date engraved on the bell, but I dunno when they stopped that. If you want to know anything else about the history of Couesnon, an obscure piece of history, in my opinion, go to Mr.

I of course have the Couesnon model 2155 flugelhorn. So by using deductive reasoning I must say my flugelhorn purchased new in March 1969 must be one of the last made at the factory before it burned down which I have read about on an internet post some time ago. The Couesnon flugelhorn is still playing with that great Cuesnon sound!

The Spanish company regularly makes two flugels, the and the. The Master has a screw bell and comes with a brass and sterling silver bell, at $3210.00 The Stomvi Elite flugel–with just one bell permanently attached–is priced at around $1895 in lacquer, $1975 in silver. Stomvi instruments are usually well made and have high quality fit and finish, though they do have some design eccentricities. The most comprehensive dealer of Stomvi instruments is, in Dallas, Texas.

We were told it was very badly out of tune, which is what led me here at that time, but it wasn't. Frankly, these Couesnons don't seem to be well understood at all. Our new asst.

In the USA in the 1950s, the Couesnon flugelhorn became very popular as a doubling instrument for jazz trumpet artists. Their flugelhorn sounded great, was readily available, and was cheap. They were everywhere. Inported to the states by Gretsch in the 60's this horn still has the warranty card! Its design is copied by the overwhelming majority of instrument makers who now make and market flugelhorns. More Pictures upon request.

That was Couesnon's top sax. Yes, it does.

Besson 60MF Meha 0.460 Yellow brass Lacquer or silver 3 traditional spit valves Top sprung valves Third valve slide trigger Flugels that cost more For more money, there are four extremely popular flugels that are often thought of as among the best available. The Kanstul Signature ZKF 1525, the French made Courtois 154, the Yamaha Bobby Shew YFH 6310Z and the Conn Vintage One. They each have small bores but maintain better intonation and response throughout the horn than some of the less expensive.

Has it been re-lacquered? The reason I ask is that is has a sling hook I have not seen on a Couesnon before, but there is no obvious lacquer damage that you might expect to see if it had been modified. The linked G# to the rest of the pinky table, that can be switched off, was patented by Couesnon in 1935. Chris - hello - don't think it's a relaq as the detail is still quite sharp on the engraving, and close-up the lacquered finish shows a fine example of all the minute scratches of day-to-day wear over the decades. 99.999% sure that it's original, couldn't ever be 100%. Just love the keys and action - they are SOLIDLY built - no chance of any accidental bending there.

They are very popular in Europe and are just now breaking into the US market. His is very interesting. There remain a class of European rotary valve flugelhorns that are not common in the United States and about which I know next to nothing. Flugelhorns that cost less, but that you probably don’t want Getzen makes three valve and four valve flugelhorns, at generally reasonable prices. They all have large trumpet-like bores. They are rarely played by pros because of their bore size, uneven manufacture, and poor intonation. The 4th value is kind of cool but it changes the way the horn plays and most people don’t think for the better.

The pictures will give you a full view of the cosmetic shape of the instrument. The video will give you a good idea of how it sounds and plays. Here is an opportunity to pick up a coveted jazz horn for a great price. Please contact me with any questions or for more information.

Valves are excellent. Horn plays GREAT! If you want a dark warm sounding flugel this is the one! Excellent fast valves. Smokey dark flugel sound.

Band director is a sax player (the head is brass), so I'm hoping to get some better input from him this week. As far as I am aware there is no list for Couesnon Saxophone serial numbers. My Monopole 2 alto is 92XX, which I believe is around 1958.

Note that these horns have a bit different serial number structure. It's probable that either when Couesnon was incorporated or when they moved to their new facility that their serial numbers restarted at 1. The construction of these saxophones parallels only one other French manufacturer: SML. Series II 1950 - 1980(?) This series is marked by slight keywork design changes and different engraving.

The serial numbers of the Couesnon Flugesl is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. A fire in 1978 destroyed all records of these great horns.Couesnon is one of the great names in brass instruments, in business over 170 years. It grew to include eight factories employing, at one time, over 1800 people in France. In the USA in the 1950s, the Couesnon flugelhorn became very popular as a doubling instrument for jazz trumpet artists. Their flugelhorn sounded great, was readily available, and was cheap. They were everywhere. Its design is copied by the overwhelming majority of instrument makers who now make and market flugelhorns.

There are many reasons to visit, support, and buy from your local store, but because of their more modest volume and higher overhead per unit, it will likely cost you more even if they discount somewhat from list prices. However, your local music store often provides repair services and supports local school or youth music and you may find that the higher price is justified for the intangibles also purchased. And you never know when you may need a favor. An important note about flugel bore sizes: With the exception of the Yamaha YFH 631G and the Lawler, the flugelhorns below break clearly into one of two camps, those with small bores (e.g., 0.415 inch) and those with larger more trumpet-like bores (0.457 – 0.460 inch). This is a staggering difference considering that trumpets range from medium bores of, say, 0.445 to large bores of about.464, a difference of 0.021, compared to the more than doubled 0.045 difference between large and small bore flugels. The small bore flugels play quite differently from the larger bored horns and one should really try one of each, if at all possible, to see which group feels the better to you.

Q: What flugelhorn should I buy? A: I have attempted, rather than to describe in detail the specifications of each horn, to link where possible this page with the manufacturer’s page for each of the horns.

Roy makes these one at a time, by himself, and there will be a wait as they have excited many buyers like me. The cost ranges from $1950 in raw brass), and up to $2650 in gold plate.

All for under $1000 (fitted case wasn't included), and I'm told it had been given a recent $500 repad by griff136, nice job Griff. It was a UK sale, but I've put the figures in US$ 'cos I know how much you colonial guys get confused with foreign currencies:bluewink: More pics (the sellers) on my flickr - click here (I'll be taking some pictures of my own very soon. Congratulations on your purchase! Couesnon have used the Monopole designation over a number of models - certainly since the 1930s, if not before. They have never used the II in their model markings, but Monopole II is generally used to denote the last iteration of design before production stopped. Yours is what is known as a Monopole II. Has it been re-lacquered?

These are great horns to look for on the used market. The current top of the Yamaha line is the, a small bore (0.413 inch) flugelhorn companion to the YTR 6310Z trumpet with design assistance by jazz trumpeter Bobby Shew.

Also among the best is the French made gold brass bell small bore flugel. Made by France’s premiere brass manufacturer, this last of the real French flugels, the quality of the construction will surprise those used to the old Couesnons. The direct flow air passage, the huge 6 3/4 inch bell and very small 0.410 inch bore combine for a feel different from the others. The horn lists for $2550, but can be purchased for around $1500 usually. The addition of a first valve trigger (as well as a third) and you have the model 155. Used Courtois flugels are common, as are the identical looking flugels Courtois made for G. LeBlanc corporation in the 1960s and 1970s when LeBlanc used to import brasswinds from Paris (while never making any).

While he did say he could find us something, he wasn't pushing a new instrument. This is who the school district uses and we trust him.

Yes, it does. There are a few images in this post (from another thread, including detail of the engraving. I should post some more. When my older daughter started playing it a few years ago, we had a little misunderstanding about the instrument.

Engaged, it did make the B-nat a bit of a marathon push, light as the proverbial feather now, for a horn of that era.

These horns were obviously imported by someone and then sold by probably only a handful of dealers. Has anyone ever tried compiling a serial number list from these sources? It wouldn't have every horn they ever made or the exact date of manufacture, but would probably at least be enough to figure out what year it was imported or sold. Just acquired a Couesnon Monopole Conservatoire tenor sax s/no 149xx behind the pinkie table - I keep seeing 'II' mentioned here but can't find anything on the engraving (apart from two pigeons?) that would suggest that.

They are made in extremely small quantities and have an incredibly high coolness factor. In the spring of 2002, introduced his handmade flugel. I happened to play one and was so taken with it that it became the first new instrument I’ve purchased in 25 years. It has the classic French flugel sound, round, dark, and mellow, but still clear and clean, and it has the intonation and evenness between the registers of good trumpet. It has flawless mechanicals. The only flugel I’ve ever played that I liked as well was the $3500 Taylor, below, but is $1600 less.

I think it's also harder to work on and he's not familiar with it. We had another guy tell me it was junk, don't put any money into it, but this guy was able to repair it a few years ago when my oldest used it for jazz band. He said it was a good horn just not for how a student is going to treat it in marching band. I'd rather not replace it, but if I can get it into the hands of someone who knows and appreciates it and get her something better for her right now it seems like a good idea. Any idea how old it is? If 11000 was in 1960, then my 14692 makes it mid 60s?

Really impressed with the horn, it is well made, this tenor could well see me out, it's deposed my 1930's Martin, certainly for the big band. However it was very 'oil-dry' when I got it, so a quick lube at all the moving/pivoting surfaces gave me a chance to look around it. That 'two-position' sling hook is really neat, isn't it! It looks original too, no resoldering signs, and that shaped base seems to have always been there -first one I've ever seen with sideways options on any sax. At 149xx I think mine may well have been towards the end, it's my understanding that the factory burned down in the 70's - and from what I've read here horns dated late 60's have lower numbers than mine. And yes, the 'toggle' G# link didn't want to disengage, so I removed the grub screw holding it in and dropped the whole thing out, including the spring.

Certainly has 'Couesnon Monopole Conservatoire' in the bell engraving. 69174 (the case didn't come with the sax, I've had that R&C case here for a while waiting for a suitable resident:bluewink: ) Plays like a dream - having been used to the more 'spread' Martin sound, I can now appreciate a more focussed sound. A lot is down to the choice of mouthpiece, but with my high-baffle Couf J10*S (far right in the picture below) it has all the presence you could ever wish for when pushed, subtones, harmonics, the lot - and backing off the airstream produces a more conventional sound acceptable to anyone.

Smokey dark flugel sound. This horn is the bomb! No other flugel compares with the sound of Couesnon Flugel! Couesnon Flugelhorn, SN# 75512 On the 2nd Valve It's stamped 'N'. Bb is stamped on the tuning shank along with '23' All valves & slides are excellent, tight, work free & easy, excellent compression. It's has some scratches & some small dings, pretty minor stuff.

Couesnon have used the Monopole designation over a number of models - certainly since the 1930s, if not before. They have never used the II in their model markings, but Monopole II is generally used to denote the last iteration of design before production stopped. Yours is what is known as a Monopole II.

Only silverplating and case making are done elsewhere. Production facilities are old-fashioned and the employees are skilled hand craftsmen. All of the Couesnon instruments are handmade. They make three flugelhorn models, 137 Tradition, which is the small one, 142 Monopole, and 144 which is the 4 valve version. Production of flugelhorns is about 50-60 a year.

Much heavier than others, similar to Taylor’s trumpets, with a unique lacquered brushed brass finish, it plays very well with some of the same similar projection qualities of the more popular heavy weight horns. The one I recently tested was perhaps the most satisfying and enjoyable flugel I’ve ever played. Aside from the sound, I particularly liked the little cloisonne images of Mickey Mouse on the valve buttons (an extra cost option, I was told).

Holton/LeBlanc recently introduced the, which appears to be a copy of the heavy wall copper bell Kanstul Signature ZKF 1525 (see above), the same way that the Sandoval LeBlanc T357 trumpet is an obvious copy of Arturo’s Schilke X3. Street priced at about $1629 in lacquer, the flugel appears to be competing directly with the Higher priced Kanstul and Courtois horns and has had initially good reviews as to both sound quality and intonation.

Benge 3 Bb Bach ML Couesnon flugel American Standard cornet tom turner Heavyweight Member Joined: 11 Nov 2001 Posts: 6645 Location: USA Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:10 pm Post subject: Great responses guys! If we could get enough players to post their serial numbers and dates they purchased new eventually there would be some decent serial number dating info about Couesnons. Sincerely, Tom Turner J. Crowley Heavyweight Member Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 740 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 6:41 pm Post subject: mine says: Couesnon Paris made in France 741xx I had one that I sold that said: Couesnon Star (this one had perfect lacquer which makes me think it was newer) The one I kept obviously plays better.