1. Courtois Flugelhorn Serial Numbers Lookup
2. Courtois Flugelhorn Serial Numbers List

• Records detailing flute production date from 1857, where the lowest serial number given is 4513. The surviving records for reed instruments begin in 1879 with the serial number 5968. It is therefore safe to assume that instruments bearing lower serial numbers than these were produced between 1851 and the respective sequence start dates.
• #8072 Arban model, c.1872 #8226 This is a highly engraved cornet with inscription “Souvenir a son ami JB Arban” which is “in memory of his friend”. This would date this cornet to after Arban’s death in 1889 which seems very late for this serial number. #13279 has the last medal date of 1878.

Guide to Flugelhorn Tapers Confused about tapers? Here's the scoop on flugelhorn mouthpiece tapers. If you are using the wrong taper, you may be experiencing poor intonation and response!. LARGE Morse taper Commonly known as Standard Taper. Fits all Yamaha, Getzen, Callet, Stomvi, Benge, King, Blessing, Conn Vintage One, Weril, Holton, Schilke, older Kanstul.

The French can always be relied upon to do something a little bit different...

Any nation that can produce a rugby team that one week can beat the mighty 'All Blacks' and the next lose to Tonga, or manage to produce over 300 different types of cheese, nearly all of which are almost inedible, or get away with being able to plonk a glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre museum and make it look stunning, is a country that is ruled by the heart and not the head.

The results of their nations labours come not from the technical bureaucrat but from the romantic idealist in search of perfection not through hard work, but inspiration. The French love playing up to this self possessed image, but for the most part it's a load of bullshit – however, the French are just as good (and invariably as bad) as the British or Germans in the mass production market place.

With this in mind then, we took delivery of Monsieur Antoine Courtois 157 Flugelhorn and put it to the test.

Courtois have been making musical instruments since 1789 and the earliest example of a cavalry trumpet of theirs can be found intact in a museum in Paris where it was once the property of an officer of Napoleon himself, who was sent to discuss terms with the inhabitants of a town that the old Emperor then invaded in 1789. Whether or not this was because of the standard of the poor beggar's bugle playing is not noted.

Since then the company has built itself a pretty sound reputation as an instrument maker of quality and since 1956 has built its instruments in the lovely Loire valley town of Amboise, where each year the French Open Brass Band Championships are held.

The Courtois family no longer runs the company, as Antoine Courtois Jnr died in 1880, but by Jacques Gaudet as part of the TA Musik Group. The sole importers of the instruments to the UK are Fred Rhodes Ltd of Oldham who has been in existence since 1971.

With the advent of lottery money and grants in the past few years, the name of Antoine Courtois has become better known as they have provided many bands with full sets of brass instruments. However, the one instrument within the brass band that can cause the most headaches in terms of intonation, pitch, tone and timbre is the flugel and so we set out to test whether the Courtois 157 is better than it's rivals in a very competitive field.

The usual scoring system of 25 points for each category of Build Quality, Intonation, Ease of Blowing/Tonal Quality and Overall performance/ Value for Money gives will give us a total out of 100.

A few weeks ago we tested the Le Blanc- Holten Arturo Sandoval and we gave it 82 points, which we felt wasn't too bad at all. This is how the Courtois measured up for us.

Build Quality:

Courtois have in the past had a bit of a reputation of not quite putting the nuts and bolts together as good as their competitors, but in the last couple of years things have improved a great deal, and the 157 Flugel really did feel well made for us.

The major plus was that the instrument felt balanced when holding in the playing position, so that the instrument's centre of gravity didn't mean you having to have forearms the size of Popeye's to keep it in place on your lips. Many flugels seem weighted to the front due to large bells and therefore feel heavy in the hand and uncomfortable to use, but the Courtois had a neutral balance that made it a delight to handle.

The main valve housing was therefore ideally placed - even for those with hands the size of General Tom Thumb and the third slide trigger was accessible to operate. The central strengthening arm also gives the instrument a rigid feel and the waterkeys, trigger and valve tops and buttons have a well-made look about them.

The valves themselves are slick and quiet, but the felts are a little thin on the top of the valves. The main shank is long enough to accommodate even the sharpest of players and the shank key is solid enough to last a lifetime of fiddling about with. Slides fit well and the little finger crook can safely be used to help screw the flugel onto your chops when you've got to play the high stuff!

The lacquer finish was of a high standard and there were no signs of solder blobs in the nooks and crannys. The finish had no defects even in the darkest recesses and you would have to have sweated like the monster from the Alien films to tarnish it.

Impressive stuff – 21 points.

Intonation:

The Achilles heel of just about every flugel in the world. Flugels are notoriously difficult to play in tune within a brass band as in reality they are not designed to be razzed to high heaven or blasted until your blood comes out of the waterkey. Most are perfectly in tune if cosseted like a new born babe in arms, but given that most conductors want you to sound like a soprano trombone getting to play in tune is usually difficult to say the least.

Most flugels play flat the higher up the range you go, so that anything above top G can sound like a small wombat in distress, whilst amazingly the same usually occurs when playing below the stave as well. Fortunately good players can accommodate this somewhat (usually through practising at home and not just in the bandroom on a rehearsal night), but it still remains a bug bear.

The Courtois had fine intonation in the hands (and lips of our guinea pig) and the higher octave range sounded well in tune. The shank was out about one and half inches and so gave plenty of scope for fiddling about with if others felt it was flat, and top G's and A's seemed perfectly fine. It started to go a bit when giving it a bit of welly, but even to top B and C it was pretty good indeed.

Courtois Flugelhorn Serial Numbers Lookup

On and below the stave needed a bit of help with the trigger for D's and C#'s, whilst bottom Bb was noticeably flat (as was the F first space).

Still not bad at all – 21 points

Ease of Blowing/Tonal Quality:

Although the instrument is noticeably smaller than the LeBlanc - Holten we tried a few weeks ago, the Courtois was still a very free blowing instrument that could accommodate the more delicate blowers as well as those who can shoot more air through than a Sperm Whales blowhole.

Courtois Flugelhorn Serial Numbers List

The 10.50mm bore is small compared to the Holten (10.69mm) but it's more than big enough to accommodate the louder blowing flugels out there (and you know who you are), whilst the advantage at quieter dynamics is pronounced as a constant airstream provides a dark lustrous tone with no edge or fuzzyness.

The difference in bell size between the two also contributed to the Courtois having a slightly lighter timbre and it has a distinctive resonance even played next to horn section, that other larger flugels lack. It may not have the biggest or darkest sound we have heard, but it has a distinctive individual timbre, which we liked.

Very nice thank you – 21 points

Overall Performance/ Value for Money:

Buying a flugelhorn that you can live with for more than a few years is like looking for an ideal woman. With apologies to all feminists out there, a good woman must be like Delia Smith in kitchen, Germaine Greer at work and Debbie Does Dallas in the bedroom – if you can get one that can do all three with a smile on their face then you are laughing.

The same goes with the flugel. Get one that sounds great, stays in tune and doesn't fall apart in your hands and you've got yourself a winner. The Courtois does all three very well indeed, and although it may not quite be up there with Delia, Germaine and Debbie individually, as a whole we think it's a very good package and one that you could have hours of fun and games without upsetting your wife.

Overall it did everything we asked of it and it was well put together, freeblowing with a lovely sound. Intonation was generally very good and we must add that Fred Rhodes did take the instrument back off us to amend the problem with the first slide tuning. It was returned within a week (with a courtesy instrument provided) and came back with the problem solved and the repair surgery flawless. This is very good aftercare and one that others should follow.

A nice solid case, mouthpiece and bits and bobs are provided and the shank can accommodate just about anything you wish to shove in it. Contact Fred Rhodes direct to see what deals can be done for you. They offer a personal service that in our experience is first rate and very accommodating. Terms etc can be negotiated, which is a very welcome idea and 'testdrives' are available before you make up your mind. The aftersales back up are first class.

A very good overall show from the French Fancy – 22 points.

We enjoyed the Courtois 157 very much and we think that at present it justifies it's position and reputation as the leading flugelhorn that is used by the majority of top players in the bands in the UK. A good solid piece of workmanship with a lovely tone and good intonation. In fact it does sound very French at all does it?

Overall Score: 85 points

Technical Specifications:
Bore: 10.50mm (0.413')
Bell Diameter: 160mm (6.299')
Optional Gold Brass Bell
Water Keys on 1st, 3rd and main shank
Third slide Trigger
Monel Valves
Deluxe Case
B1 1/2C mouthpiece.

The Verdict:

For further information contact:

Fred Rhodes Ltd
The Doyen Centre, Vulcan Street. Oldham. Lancashire. OL1 4EP

Telephone: 0161 620 5899.
Fax: 0161 620 3199

Email: fredrhodes@supanet.com

Or www.fredrhodes.com

I've known for many years that the history of the maker Courtois and its instruments is a neglected subject of study, especially considering how important they were to the industry in the 19th century. I hope to put more effort into this in the future, but for now I want to present some of what we can glean from a few early modern Courtois trumpets. I've already presented an important D trumpet from this time, played by Georges Mager in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In that investigation, I observed several photos of him and fellow BSO trumpeter Gustav Perrot holding C trumpets with identical details. Since then, I had hoped to come across one of these to purchase or study, but I have not been aggressive enough on Internet auctions to get one.

Scott Smith had a little luck and landed a very early Courtois Bb trumpet, number 875 from the first series. This is seen in the first four photos here. With the resultant enthusiasm, he made a deal to buy a trumpet in C that had belonged to Louis Gassié who had published a book of trumpet etudes and duets in France in 1950, but I haven't learned any more of his career. He would have acquired it used, unless there was a Louis Gassié Sr. Scott told me that the Bb trumpet is the earliest example by Courtois known and, being an expert, I set about telling him where he had gone wrong. He had done his homework, however, and was able to set me straight. This important trumpet does appear to have been made in the late 1890s and certainly not much later. It exhibits some of the same details seen on George Mager's D and C trumpets, including the valve casings, waterkey and even the angle of the second valve slide.

The most unfortunate detail is the extreme abuse that it had received. While it was mostly complete and with original silver plated finish, somebody had put some effort into denting and smashing the bell, making the restoration cost for Scott much higher than it should have been. For me, the biggest frustration was not being able to mount the bell exactly as it had been, but rather pushed forward about 5/8 inch. Because of deterioration of the brass, it couldn't have been re-bent and already needed two patches on the curve. While the valves are a bit leaky this is quite a good playing trumpet.

The bore diameter through the bell taper and flare are smaller than in the contemporary cornet-based Besson Bb trumpets, resulting in a brighter, more trumpet like tone. My assumption is that Courtois designed this Bb trumpet to more closely match the sound of the orchestral trumpets in F, rather than the cornets. We will never know the history of this B-flat trumpet's musical life, but we're very fortunate to have some documented history of the other two.

The trumpet in C, with serial number 1100 was made only a few years later, at most, and the number was changed twice, leading me to believe that it was rebuilt by Courtois each time and may have been a platform for prototyping changes, We know that Courtois was building C trumpets for some years before this; the earlier form used a mouthpipe shank and was shaped more like the D trumpet illustrated in the 1885 catalog (image 8). It came with a tuning slide extension that lowered the pitch to Bb, a mouthpipe shank for B/A and a crook for Ab (Bb in combination with the C slide). Interestingly, the 1885 catalog illustrates the trumpet in D with crook to Db but no provision for trumpets to play in C, Bb or A, but there is an existing Courtois C trumpet in the Edinburgh University collection that is complete, as described above, that was made before 1878, indicating that there was more available than offered in the catalogs.

The pitch of Scott's C trumpet is at A=440Hz and I can see that it has been shortened at least 1/8 inch and probably 1/4 inch (1/2' total length), which indicates that it was intended to tune to A=435Hz, which was the most common tuning for orchestras in the US along with Western Europe. Not surprisingly, the trumpets in Bb and D are also at this approximate tuning. The tuning slide assembly with two rotary valves was almost certainly a later addition, and lowers the pitch to B, Bb and A, the same as the mouthpipe shanks and crooks described in the 1897 and 1901 catalogs.

Scott estimates that Courtois produced about 18 trumpets a year during this time. While growing, the demand for trumpets was still quite small and they produced far higher numbers of cornets along with all the middle and low brass including tubas and helicons in BB flat. That said, they were still a somewhat small maker with about 25 employees and were willing to take on special orders. Another detail that you may notice is that the Bb and D trumpets have nipples on the bottom valve caps while the C trumpet does not. It is possible that the bottom on of C trumpet were replaced later but we also know that Courtois had used bottom caps without nipples on the earlier F and C trumpets.

By the time they published their catalog in 1919, the Bb trumpet had taken on more modern proportions as is seen in the photo engraved image. The music scene was changing both in Europe and the US. There were more symphonic orchestras and the cornet based Bb trumpets where now part of most military, school and dance bands. The C trumpet still appears to have a small bell flare similar to #1100. Besson also made small bell C trumpets for the orchestra by the 1880s, earlier examples also with mouthpipe shanks and crooks for the lower keys. The fixed mouthpipe version was still available after WWII. By the 1920s, Bach, Conn and most other US and French makers made their own versions of these small trumpets, but the Bb trumpets took on a leading role, soon even surpassing the production of cornets.

In the C trumpet the bore measures .455', the bell diameter is 4 1/2' and the overall length without mouthpiece is 16 1/2'. In the Bb trumpet, the bore measures .453', the bell diameter is 4 5/8' and the overall length his 17 5/8'.