Underslung 88H

[AtomicClock]

I saw this curious 88H on shopgoodwill. The trigger lever goes below the neckpipe rather than over it, and the lever itself is necessarily about an inch longer. I don't see any blemish where the hinge for the lever would have been in its original location. Was this a normal 88H? A clone? A mod? Another photo shows "88H" stamped on the slide, so I assume I didn't misidentify anything.

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/237800057

b2f28f90-f2e7-486c-b95f-0334bb2f485besb1_07314.jpg

[hyperbolica]

My 88h has had that circular plate break off a couple of times. But that lever looks like a Holton lever. That all looks like Conn except the mount and the lever. The mount could even be Conn, but it's installed 180 degrees backwards. Might have been done for ergo reasons, or the mount just broke off and it was repaired with available parts.

[nopos]

My 1933 Conn 80h spec has that style of trigger and I have seen some others. I believe it was a custom modification that you could order from Conn back in the old Elkhart era. Possibly to better fit larger hands?

[CalgaryTbone]

I've seen a few of those - I found an 88H for one of my students that had belonged to a former University Prof. who played a little on the side. It was a pristine horn from the mid-60's, and that was the original linkage. There was a student at Juilliard when I was there that had one too, but his horn was marked 89H.
They were otherwise the same as stock 88H's of the time.

Jim Scott

[Thrawn22]

Brass Mavens posted a horn like this a gave some history. Apparently it was an option for 88Hs . This configuration helped players with larger hands.

[CalgaryTbone]

Brass Mavens posted a horn like this a gave some history. Apparently it was an option for 88Hs . This configuration helped players with larger hands.

Good to know! Thanks!

JS

[slipmo]

It was a factory option indeed

[Crazy4Tbone86]

I can definitely see the advantage of having the trigger saddle mounted that way. The chances of partially engaging the trigger by accidentally leaning on it are greatly reduced.