Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s? from CDFhorn
Apr 8th, 2023 at 3:07pm
Before Hakam Din began selling stenciled Chinese brasswinds, they produced a series of trumpets and cornets at their factory in Sialkot. The 81P designation was on their old website - https://web.archive.org/web/20040704190740/http://hakamdin.com:80/products/corne">
https://web.archive.org/web/20050308231059/http://www.hakamdin.com:80/cornets_tr
https://web.archive.org/web/20050308231059/http://www.hakamdin.com:80/cornets_tr
Valves are marked 16, 17, 18 in the European manner, with a 6 on the second valve casing, no serial number on the bell like other pockets [i.e. in the Nick DeCarlis collection]. West Pakistan implies pre-1971, technically 1955-1970 under "One Unit" policy. The two-digit NY code implies pre-1965, though horns only marked "Sialkot - Pakistan" [no West] have also had the two-digit code...
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl?usp=sha"
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl?usp=sha
This has a standard trumpet receiver and plays okay, but not the most secure slotting [big surprise]. Definitely miles ahead of the usual instruments from this region, and an interesting design compared to Hakam Din's newer offerings.
Didn't know how out-of-line the valves were [surprise, surprise], but apparently it played quite a bit better after alignment. Hope the new owner likes it!
This has a standard trumpet receiver and plays okay, but not the most secure slotting [big surprise]. Definitely miles ahead of the usual instruments from this region, and an interesting design compared to Hakam Din's newer offerings.
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Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s?
Curious to know - is Hakam Din a maker to be added to the list? I've found a few other brass instruments of theirs [beyond bugles] and they could be an interesting addition... https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl
Curious to know - is Hakam Din a maker to be added to the list? I've found a few other brass instruments of theirs [beyond bugles] and they could be an interesting addition... https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl
Re: Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s?
I think the difficulty is that HUC is supposed to reflect out of production instruments. But do we have any way of knowing what is no longer being produced?
I re-reading what you have above, let me ask, what do we know that we can put in on a Maker's page? Maybe is could go in the database, I confess I know nothing about the company nor their offerings. Do you think they are a legitimate provider of musical instruments, and not just 'instrument shaped objects'?
I think the difficulty is that HUC is supposed to reflect out of production instruments. But do we have any way of knowing what is no longer being produced?
I re-reading what you have above, let me ask, what do we know that we can put in on a Maker's page? Maybe is could go in the database, I confess I know nothing about the company nor their offerings. Do you think they are a legitimate provider of musical instruments, and not just 'instrument shaped objects'?
Re: Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s?
Sure thing - that is a very fair question knowing how few playable instruments come from that area, and the rather obscure history of the companies there - this is just a brief start but hopefully gets the ball rolling:
I have to admit that I didn't know anything about this brand until reading about it from Nick DeCarlis about a decade ago -
https://www.pocketcornets.com/html/hakam_din___sons.html
The firm was established in 1910 to supply instruments to the British Army in India after a few prototypes were found to be of good quality, and Hakam Din established several subsidiaries to make different types of instruments and band equipment. They apparently started the "Anwar" subsidiary for brasswind manufacture in the late 1920s, and were not manufacturing instruments during the turbulence from 1947-1950 or so. General Ayub Khan apparently emphasized the need to support the homegrown business, so his influence led to new contracts to supply the Pakistani Army bands, and this gave the firm a foothold to export instruments again. As we've seen, Phil Kirschenbaum's West Manor Music was one such client.
shows Khan at the factory in a tiny thumbnail...
The old history pages can be seen at <URL https://web.archive.org/web/20040226071125/http://www.hakamdin.com:80/history.html
Obviously I'm appealing to Nick DeCarlis as an authority regarding quality, but I think Hakam Din was the exception to the rule regarding Indian/Pakistani horn makers.
Other than the receiver being a bit small and the valves needing aligned, this horn was fun to play and comparable to the Amati-Kraslice ATR-314 overall <[I prefer 1990s KHS-Jupiter for their response]. Intonation was a little uneven, but mechanically and musically respectable. Ultimately I needed space and sold it.
I would say Hakam Din were a legitimate manufacturer and provider of instruments based on my brief ownership of this model and others' opinions of them being reliable.
Nowadays, Hakam Din market Chinese-looking stencils instead of making their own brasswinds, with the exception of their simple bugles - https://hakamdin.com/brass-musical-instruments/cornets
- so I think their "classic" 81P pocket trumpet has long been discontinued. The old website last showed these in the early 2000s at
https://web.archive.org/web/20040704072359/http://hakamdin.com/cornets_trumpets.html
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hakamdin.com/
The shank-version is at https://elsinore.usd.edu/objects/9095/pocket-cornet-bflat
https://m.facebook.com/ManWithTheHorns/videos/hakam-din-sons-pocket-trumpet/1783738081919528/
Sure thing - that is a very fair question knowing how few playable instruments come from that area, and the rather obscure history of the companies there - this is just a brief start but hopefully gets the ball rolling:
I have to admit that I didn't know anything about this brand until reading about it from Nick DeCarlis about a decade ago -
https://www.pocketcornets.com/html/hakam_din___sons.html
The firm was established in 1910 to supply instruments to the British Army in India after a few prototypes were found to be of good quality, and Hakam Din established several subsidiaries to make different types of instruments and band equipment. They apparently started the "Anwar" subsidiary for brasswind manufacture in the late 1920s, and were not manufacturing instruments during the turbulence from 1947-1950 or so. General Ayub Khan apparently emphasized the need to support the homegrown business, so his influence led to new contracts to supply the Pakistani Army bands, and this gave the firm a foothold to export instruments again. As we've seen, Phil Kirschenbaum's West Manor Music was one such client.
shows Khan at the factory in a tiny thumbnail...
The old history pages can be seen at <URL https://web.archive.org/web/20040226071125/http://www.hakamdin.com:80/history.html
Obviously I'm appealing to Nick DeCarlis as an authority regarding quality, but I think Hakam Din was the exception to the rule regarding Indian/Pakistani horn makers.
Other than the receiver being a bit small and the valves needing aligned, this horn was fun to play and comparable to the Amati-Kraslice ATR-314 overall <[I prefer 1990s KHS-Jupiter for their response]. Intonation was a little uneven, but mechanically and musically respectable. Ultimately I needed space and sold it.
I would say Hakam Din were a legitimate manufacturer and provider of instruments based on my brief ownership of this model and others' opinions of them being reliable.
Nowadays, Hakam Din market Chinese-looking stencils instead of making their own brasswinds, with the exception of their simple bugles - https://hakamdin.com/brass-musical-instruments/cornets
- so I think their "classic" 81P pocket trumpet has long been discontinued. The old website last showed these in the early 2000s at
https://web.archive.org/web/20040704072359/http://hakamdin.com/cornets_trumpets.html
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hakamdin.com/
The shank-version is at https://elsinore.usd.edu/objects/9095/pocket-cornet-bflat
https://m.facebook.com/ManWithTheHorns/videos/hakam-din-sons-pocket-trumpet/1783738081919528/
Re: Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s? OK, Hakam Din has been added to the Maker's database.
So, that should give us a start from which to improve the company information and to be able to populate it with examples of their product line.
So, that should give us a start from which to improve the company information and to be able to populate it with examples of their product line.
Re: Hakam Din pocket trumpet, ca. 1950s-60s?
Excellent - I'll dig up some of my pocket trumpet photos again, as well as the other ones I've encountered, like
https://reverb.com/item/63307344-hakam-din-sons-cornet
I forgot to add that the database has Nadir Ali ["Nadirali"], setting a precedent for adding a couple "known" makers from the Indian subcontinent. From what I've gathered, the Hakam Din horns are generally better than the Nadir Ali equivalents in machining quality/mechanical reliability and playability.
Various pocket instruments, a cornet, and pages from the Nick DeCarlis book:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl
My [former] Hakam Din, stamped 6:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1525-ip9hYri_XAL6RSFqqMz9RRnnu2v6
Excellent - I'll dig up some of my pocket trumpet photos again, as well as the other ones I've encountered, like
https://reverb.com/item/63307344-hakam-din-sons-cornet
I forgot to add that the database has Nadir Ali ["Nadirali"], setting a precedent for adding a couple "known" makers from the Indian subcontinent. From what I've gathered, the Hakam Din horns are generally better than the Nadir Ali equivalents in machining quality/mechanical reliability and playability.
Various pocket instruments, a cornet, and pages from the Nick DeCarlis book:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/194-VlOr-QNB2X2WU88lSbVoutW0zFGwl
My [former] Hakam Din, stamped 6:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1525-ip9hYri_XAL6RSFqqMz9RRnnu2v6
Hakam Din [81P] pocket trumpet
Kicking off the Hakam Din section with their pocket trumpet [81P] -
Valves are marked 16, 17, 18 in the European manner, with a 6 on the second valve casing, no serial number on the bell like other pockets [i.e. in the Nick DeCarlis collection]. West Pakistan implies pre-1971, technically 1955-1970 under "One Unit" policy. The two-digit NY code implies pre-1965, though horns only marked "Sialkot - Pakistan" [no West] have also had the two-digit code...
Kicking off the Hakam Din section with their pocket trumpet [81P] -
Valves are marked 16, 17, 18 in the European manner, with a 6 on the second valve casing, no serial number on the bell like other pockets [i.e. in the Nick DeCarlis collection]. West Pakistan implies pre-1971, technically 1955-1970 under "One Unit" policy. The two-digit NY code implies pre-1965, though horns only marked "Sialkot - Pakistan" [no West] have also had the two-digit code...
Hakam Din cornet
This is a HakamDin Cornet
Hakam Din & Sons Sialkot - Pakistan Specially made for West Manor Music Centre 1590West Chester Ave New *** NY
The old Hakam Din site lists several B-flat cornet models:
80-A Bb Cornet, lacquer finish.
81-A Bb Cornet, silver-plated finish.
80-H Bb Cornet, original-brass finish
81-H Bb Cornet, silver-plated finish.
82-H Bb Cornet, nickel-plated finish.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040704072359/http://hakamdin.com/cornets_trumpets.html
This is a HakamDin Cornet
Hakam Din & Sons Sialkot - Pakistan Specially made for West Manor Music Centre 1590West Chester Ave New *** NY
The old Hakam Din site lists several B-flat cornet models:
80-A Bb Cornet, lacquer finish.
81-A Bb Cornet, silver-plated finish.
80-H Bb Cornet, original-brass finish
81-H Bb Cornet, silver-plated finish.
82-H Bb Cornet, nickel-plated finish.
https://web.archive.org/web/20040704072359/http://hakamdin.com/cornets_trumpets.html