Editing C. G. Conn (section)

===Carl D. Greenleaf and C. G. Conn, Ltd., 1915–1949===
Carl Greenleaf was president of Conn from 1915 to 1949. The new company was incorporated with public stock offerings under the name C. G. Conn Ltd. and the Conn trademark was updated to the official name of the new company.<ref name="Reed" /> Greenleaf was an astute businessman, very sensitive to the market trends of the industry. While president, Greenleaf was noting the gradual extinction of the small town brass band, and of the big touring bands such as the Sousa band. To shore up the future market for band instruments, he undertook to promote band programs in schools and colleges. He proceeded to develop a close relationship and communications between the industry and music educators. His collaboration with educators such as [[Joseph E. Maddy]] and T.P. Giddings helped introduce band music into public schools. Greenleaf organized the first national band contest in 1923 and helped make possible the founding of the [[National Music Camp]] at [[Interlochen, Michigan]]. In 1928 he founded a Conn National School of Music which trained hundreds of school band directors, and this in turn helped spur the development of music programs in schools and communities across the United States.

Under Greenleaf's leadership the company converted distribution from mail-order to retail dealers and expanded its product line through acquisitions. C. G. Conn founded the Continental Music retail subsidiary in 1923 which, at the height of its success, included a chain of over 30 music stores. During the 1920s C. G. Conn owned the [[Elkhart Band Instrument Company]] (1923–27), the Leedy Company (1929–55), a manufacturer of percussion, and 49.9% of the stock of the retailer [[Selmer Company|H. & A. Selmer]] (1923–27).  Conn purchased the drum manufacturer [[Ludwig Drums|Ludwig and Ludwig]], the instrument import/retail operation of the [[Carl Fischer Music|Carl Fischer]] company, and [[accordion]] manufacturer Soprani in 1929.  From 1940 to 1950 the company owned the Haddorff Piano Company, and from 1941 to 1942 the [[Straube Piano Company]].

Greenleaf expanded and upgraded C. G. Conn's plant to increase production and developed new lines of wind instruments to sell.  By 1917, using a new hydraulic expansion process which Greenleaf introduced to the plant, the assembly-line work force had increased to 550 employees who were turning out about 2500 instruments a month. In 1917 C. G. Conn introduced the ''Pan American'' brand for its second-line instruments, forming the [[Pan American Band Instrument Company]] subsidiary in 1919 and moving production of second-line instruments to the old Angledile Scale factory, which had been transferred to the new company among Conn's other assets, later that year. In 1930 the Pan American company was absorbed by C. G. Conn, with C. G. Conn retaining and utilizing the Pan American brand for its second-line instruments until 1955.

By 1920 C. G. Conn was producing a complete line of saxophones. In this area they had stiff competition from other big saxophone makers such as [[Buescher Band Instrument Company|Buescher]] and [[Martin Band Instrument Company|Martin]]. Around 1917 C.G. Conn introduced drawn tone holes (after a patent by W.S. Haynes in 1914) eliminating the necessity of soft-soldering tone hole platforms onto the bodies of the instruments. Around 1920 C. G. Conn introduced [[#Conn Res-o-Pads|rolled tone hole rims]], a feature that enhanced the seal of the pads and extended pad life. Rolled tone holes remained a feature of Conn saxophones until 1947. By the late 1920s the success of Conn's latest "New Wonder" model saxophones with dance orchestras was gaining widespread attention, leading European manufacturers to produce horns closer to the deeper, richer, bolder "American" sound. [[Henri Selmer Paris|Selmer (Paris)]] introduced the American-sounding "New Largebore" model in 1929 and the new [[Julius Keilwerth|Julius Keilwerth Company]] in Czechoslovakia produced saxophones influenced by the C. G. Conn design, including rolled tone holes and [[#The Conn Microtuner|microtuners]]. As sax sales plateaued in 1928, Conn attempted to introduce a [[mezzo-soprano saxophone]] in the key of F and the "[[Saxophone#Unusual variants|Conn-o-sax]]", a saxophone-English horn hybrid, but these instruments were soon discontinued after disappointing sales.

In 1928, under the direction of Carl Greenleaf's son Leland Burleigh Greenleaf, C. G. Conn opened its Experimental Laboratory, which was unique in the industry. Under Leland Greenleaf's directorship, the department developed the first short-action piston valves (1934), and the 'Stroboconn' (1936), the first [[Electronic tuner|electronic visual tuning device]]. It also developed the "Vocabell" (1932), a bell with no rim, which C. G. Conn described as "vibrat[ing] freely and in sympathy with the vibrating column of air in the instrument,"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cderksen.home.xs4all.nl/Conn44H1941image.html|title = Conn Loyalist – Conn 44H Connqueror}}</ref> C. G. Conn also developed the "Coprion" bell (1934), a seamless copper bell formed by directly electroplating it onto a mandrel. Under Greenleaf's saxophone specialists Allen Loomis and Hugh Loney, C. G. Conn's research and development resulted in the designs of the 6M alto (1931), 10M tenor (1934), and 12M baritone (1930). The 12M baritone was the first saxophone with both bell keys on the right side, followed by the [[King Musical Instruments|King]] Voll-True II (1932) and Selmer Balanced Action (1936). The 6M alto featured an innovative double socket neck that eliminated the large collar on the body tube at the neck joint for a more positive seal and even response, later adopted for King altos and tenors. From 1935 through 1943, C. G. Conn produced the 26M and 30M "Connqueror" alto and tenor saxophones, featuring screw-adjustable keywork and improved mechanisms for the left hand cluster. The keywork was the most fully adjustable of any saxophone during that period. C. G. Conn's laboratory was expanded into the Division of Research, Development and Design in 1940, directed by Earle Kent. C. G. Conn's combined abilities in close-tolerance manufacturing and electronic devices made them a valuable resource for wartime production.

From mid-1942 to 1945, C. G. Conn ceased all production of musical instruments for civilian use to manufacture flat & mounted compasses, altimeters, gyro-horizon indicators, and other military instrumentation.<ref>"After Five 'E' Awards, New Instruments for You" (advertisement). Music Educators Journal, November–December 1945, 49.</ref> A special application of C. G. Conn's "Coprion" process—creating seamless brass bells by depositing copper on a mandrel—was to manufacture silver bearing inserts for the [[Wright Cyclone]] airplane engines.<ref>"Silver Bearings Unleash More Speed from 5,000 Horsepower" (advertisement). Music Educators Journal, February–March 1944.</ref> In winter 1946–47, production was again interrupted, by  a 15-week labor strike.<ref name="Reed">Reed, Charles Vandeveer. "A History of Band Instrument Manufacturing in Elkhart, Indiana." Master's Thesis, Butler University, 1953.</ref>  The loss in sales from those disruptions and increased competition from other manufacturers such as [[Selmer Paris|Selmer (Paris)]] and [[H. N. White|King (H. N. White)]] caused a serious decline in C. G. Conn's status as a major band instrument manufacturer. The company first responded by expanding their lines of electronic musical products, developing the "Connsonata" [[electronic organ]] in 1946. They later introduced the "Connstellation" model wind instruments to revitalize those product lines (28M alto saxophone with help from [[Santy Runyon]]{{Citation needed|date=July 2022}}, 1948, and brass instruments, mid-1950s). The Connstellation brasswinds remained a premium line through the 1960s.