Why number the valves 7-9?

[u/ShrimpOfPrawns]

I have an old B&H Regent baritone, probably manufactured in 1928 if I'm reading the dating chart correctly. Second picture is just to show how incredibly tiny it looks next to my euph mute :P

I'm curious though - does anyone have any idea why the valves aren't numbered 1-3?

[u/mango186282]

If the valves have the same marking it probably is used in the factory so that more than one valve block can be in the same workspace.

Once the valves and casings are lapped the valves are not really interchangeable. You don’t want to mix the 3rd valve from different valve blocks.

Using 1-9 would allow for 3 valve blocks at the same station with low risk of making a mistake. Probably just a quality control method.

[u/Felt_Ninja]

/u/mango186282 is basically correct. [Some] manufacturers make pistons and casings in certain batches - Selmer did it in batches of 33, thus making 11 three-valve trumpets per batch.

Unless something went wrong in production of fitting the pistons to the casing - they are indeed mated upon fitting, and aren't going to work as well in others - you typically see them in 3 sequential numbers. if you don't, something went wrong during manufacturing, and they didn't ave the means of relabeling. I've only ever seen that once on an instrument, after handling thousands over the years.

With modern manufacturing techniques, we've largely moved away from labeling like that. The computer controlled machinery is incredibly capable of making parts [by all right] identical every time, diminishing the need for quite as much hand fitting and finishing.

I'd venture the instrument you're posting is French, as this was a pretty standard practice among a lot of their manufacturers for years.

[u/speedikat]

It's a production code. Valves are usually fit by hand as final procedure. And you don't want to get them mixed up. If one is working with several otherwise identically spec'd instruments, the valves are matched to their casings, 1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 9, and so on. Sometimes letters are used. a b c, e f g, etc.

[u/xxXTinyHippoXxx]

Cause 6 was scared of 7

[u/HortonFLK]

In my personal head-canon it’s to tell you which fingers to use for those valves.

[u/Knitchick82]

It’s obviously because your main horn, the workhorse is labeled 123. Your super fancy show off horn is labeled 456, and this horn is labeled 789. :)

[u/Rubix321]

As others have said, it's probably to keep multiple manufacturing lines in the same area straight.

[u/NotAlwaysGifs]

I’ve never seen this… but I have two theories.

1. Someone wasn’t paying attention and used the wrong sequence of stamps while machining these.

OR

1. During a transition in the manufacturing/assembly process different valve components were labeled with different numbers. Maybe trumpet was 1-3, mellophone 4-6, and baritone 7-9? Seems unlikely but could be manufacturing code rather than valve labels.