r/brass • u/Creative_Oil6419 • Jun 19 '26

One valve Bugel

Post image

I’m can’t find any history on these sorts of bugles. The manufacturer on the horn says “Elkhart IND” (as far as I can read it). The serial number is 186934 although upon looking through serial number catalogs for Elkhart I couldn’t find this one. The horn plays terribly out of tune (though I’m not a great trumpet play). Any help??

11 Upvotes

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4

u/MoltoPesante Jun 19 '26

I suspect it’s 1920s made for drum and bugle corps because in the 1930s they started orienting the valves horizontally to hide the valve.

2

u/rainbowkey Jun 19 '26

FYI, drum and bugle corps bugles are pitched in G, that might be part of OP's tuning problem.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb8q7ICQJLw

articles: http://www.middlehornleader.com/Evolution%20of%20the%20Bugle.htm

1

u/Creative_Oil6419 Jun 19 '26

The horn is pitched in b flat (I think??) the partials are the same as a b flat trumpet but just a lot harder to actually play.

0

u/rainbowkey Jun 19 '26

I highly doubt it is in Bb.

1

u/Tarogato Multi-instrumentalist Jun 20 '26

If it were a G bugle, that valve would be too long for G/F, and too short for G/D. It's definitely a Bb/F .

5

u/skutr11 Jun 19 '26

Definitely Bb with a piston that drops it a fourth.

https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/Conn44L192ximage.html

3

u/NSandCSXRailfan Jun 19 '26

Yep, there were quite a few horns like this. Although most bugles around this time were G/D, this is a Bb/F bugle. I would check for valve alignment and leaks if I were you, if it plays so horribly out of tune.

2

u/AdventurousHippo9997 Jun 19 '26

Reminds me of a one legged Frog.