Contempora Double Horn, Pottag Model
Max Pottag | "The Reynolds Double French Horn is a most sensitively responding instrument and has an unusually easy-speaking upper register - so important to Horn players. Its wondrous tone quality, complete even range and sureness is noteworthy. I am using it exclusively, love it and I am happy indeed to recommend it to any French Horn player."
F.A. Reynolds introduced his copy of the 1938 Kruspe-Horner double horn sometime around the start of World War II (see F.A. Reynolds Horns for more details.). At some point in the early history of the Reynolds Double Horn, Reynolds contracted Max Pottag, long-time second horn with the Chicago Symphony to promote sales of the new horn. It's yet unclear to what extent and exactly when Pottag was initially involved with Reynolds; however, while the Reynolds horn uses the updated Kruspe-Horner wrap, to many ears it sounds more like the smaller Geyer horn that Pottag was using at the time, perhaps due in part to a smaller bell throat than the Kruspe-Horner or Conn 8D models. By the mid 1940s, Reynolds was marketing their double horn as the Pottag Model. In 1947, Pottag retired from the CSO after 40 years of playing and began teaching at Northwestern.
In conjunction with the "Pottag Model" bell marking, Reynolds added a small bump to the Bb tuning slide. Some early Pottag horns featured a nickel-silver tone ring on the bell as well as the larger tuning change valve rotor found on the original Reynolds double horns. The tone ring anticipates the kranz found on the Contempora trumpets, cornets and tenor trombones (1949).
The Pottag Model was sold for almost 20 years, from the 1940's to the early 1960's [SNs 200xx - 77xxx] and, by all modern accounts, is well suited for small orchestra, chamber music and solo literature. A solid nickel-silver version was introduced in conjunction with the development of the Chambers Model double horn in the late 1950s.
Model History | Specifications
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1940s-1952 | F.A. Reynolds (Cleveland) |
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Pottag Model | Bb/F Double French Horn | Bore: .472" | Bell: 12"; medium bell throat | Wrap: modified Kruspe-Horner (with Bb tuning slide) | Materials: brass with nickel silver slide tubes and trim; some models have nickel-silver bell tone ring | Finish: clear lacquer finish
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1952-1961 | Roth-Reynolds (Cleveland) |
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Model 160 | Bb/F Double French Horn | Bore: .472" | Bell: 12"; medium bell throat | Wrap: modified Kruspe-Horner (with Bb tuning slide) | Materials: brass with nickel silver slide tubes and trim | Finish: clear lacquer finish 1953, 1958, 1959 catalog: "Leading and nationally known symphony French Hornists unconditionally proclaim Reynolds Double French Horn, Pottag Model, 'the finest Double Horn model!' Reynolds Double Horns are unsurpassed in tone quality and extremely wide range. Complete with Pottag mouthpiece, fine form-fitting case, this instrument in brass, clear lacquered, in indeed worthy of its envied heritage!"
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Model 161 | Bb/F Double French Horn | Bore: .472" | Bell: 12" heavyweight bell; medium bell throat | Wrap: modified Kruspe-Horner (with Bb tuning slide) | Materials: solid nickel silver | Finish: clear lacquer finish
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1961-1963 | F.A. Reynolds/RMC (Cleveland) |
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Model FE-02 | Same as Pottag Model 161 above; later models without Pottag marking [?]
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Model FE-04 | Same as Pottag Model 160 above; later models without Pottag marking [?]
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Model TBD [SN 20074]. Photos used
with permission from Eli
Kronenberg.
Notes | Quotes
Howard Sanner | "So how does it play? Very well, indeed! It is very free blowing, focused, good in all registers, with an especially easy top octave and a well-centered, easy-to-control low register. I recently played it and my Conn 8D at the inauguration of a recital hall some friends had built on their house. All present, me included, preferred the Reynolds to the 8D. It had a more focused, complex, warmer sound than the 8D." Read more
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