Undocumented but interesting information:
In 1986, a few horns were stamped with a 36 prefix in front of the existing King serial - add 50 and you get 86 for the year of manufacture. This was a system used by the W. T. Armstrong woodwind division that soon would be ported to all UMI brasses.
Also in 1986, the Conn factory in Abilene, Texas was closed and production moved to Eastlake. The S-prefix serial system for lower-end horns continued use, but newly-reintroduced professional brasses were stamped in the King sequence.
In 1987, the 37/add-50 prefix was added to all King-sequence serial numbers and (another) Conn sequence, and this continued until the 44-prefix in 1994.
Conn student horns were part of a different series than Conn pro brasses, but both became consistent by 1987.
In 1995, the entire system was overhauled. Conn student horn tooling was scrapped and all student horns became rebadged King 600/601 series. Benge intermediate horns were built with King valve bodies, leaving only professional brasses made with unique tooling (Benge 3X and a few others, Conn 80B/83B and occasional 4th gen 38B). The serial system was consolidated into the King sequence and a new prefix denoting the factory was introduced. The 5-prefix indicated Eastlake brasses, and the 7-prefix indicated Nogales (AZ) woodwinds. This prefix was dropped in 2000, and the serial system restarted (again) in the 2000s...
Benge production was suspended (read: terminated) in 2007.
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