This Conn 8D is in excellent overall shape, with a recent restoration and customizations by Dennis Houghton. This included a valve overhaul, slide refitment, and lacquer removal and polish. Life with the horn is now easier, with the addition of 1940s Mercury Dimes (Solid Silver) on the main levers, the trigger was converted to string linkage, and the bell was converted to detachable using a prototype bell from Dennis' time consulting with Conn-Selmer.

The serial number dates it to 1969, one of the best years handmade in Conn's workshop in Elkhart. These are some of the most desirable Kruspe wraps ever made, and if you can believe, even better thanks to its recent restoration and customizations. A one-of-one horn ready for many more years of music!


Introduced in 1938, the Conn 8D cemented the tradition of large bell, all nickel silver, Kruspe-wrap French horns in the United States. Quickly becoming the instrument of choice for the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, the sound of the Conn 8D has also been heard by billions of people worldwide in Hollywood film scores.
With its distinctive tone quality and a broad acoustic profile, the warm sound of the 8D attracts horn players worldwide. The large bell throat helps keep the sound from spreading and getting too overblown in loud passages and the all nickel silver construction gives clarity to the sound. The 8D excels in the recording studio, where its fully formed sound is picked up authentically by microphones at any distance.
Whether you are recording the latest Hollywood blockbuster, practicing in your home studio, or on stage in a famous concert hall or your local high school, the classic sound of the 8D is best represented with these Elkhart era horns.

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