Gronert B-flat Bass Helicon

Here’s a b-flat bass helicon (predecessor of the Sousaphone).  It’s stamped “Elkhart Triumph, made by W. J. Gronert, Elkhart, Ind.”  And thereby hangs a tale, illustrating the convoluted state of early American instrument makers, in and out of business with one another.

William Joseph Gronert was born in Hastings, England in 1851, and served 9 years in the British army as a musician. In 1874 Gronert immigrated to the US and joined the 17th US Infantry as a musician. By 1880 he was a musician living in Elkhart, Indiana, and boarding with instrument maker Jacob Berkley.

After marriage and children, in 1885 Gronert joined C. G. Conn and eventually became his factory manager.  In 1911, Gronert founded the Elkhart Musical Instrument Co. In 1912, Robert Middleton patented  a trombone tuning slide device that was assigned to Elkhart; that device looks remarkably like one I have on a 1925 Conn bass trombone – I’ve no idea if it was the patented device, or if it was used with permission. In 1912, Gronert sued Conn for lack of payment, eventually settled in 1916.

The information I can find on Gronert pictures several cornets and a trumpet, including several 4-valve models, quite rare then and now.  No lower brass is noted at all. Instruments of the same design might be marked either Gronert or Elkhart Musical Instrument co.

Years back, I’d heard a rumor of a “sousaphone” hanging on the wall of a local scrap metal yard.  On checking, said firm was out of business, but some assets had been acquired by another.  On visiting, I spied the horn on the wall of the new firm, crushed and encased in grunge.  I asked the counter help if they’d sell it; was told that the owner would not – he thought it looked “neat”.  I pushed back, thinking that several hundred might pry it loose.  The reply was; “someone even offered him $50.00 for it, and the boss still would not sell.  I sent an offer back for $100.00, and closed the deal.

I dropped the horn off at a bumper re-plating firm to have it chemical dipped to remove the grunge; then to my repair tech (Bill Law, a good friend and my brass band’s bass trombonist). He had to take it apart down to the valve cluster, hammer it back into shape, and cobble it back together.  It now plays great.