It’s important to remember that these are handmade horns. So there may be a small dent where the maker finessed it with a hammer. The bulbs are also handmade–someone poured rubber into a mold and later extracted it. Each horn is a little different.
This set of 1929 Gershwin horns consists of a D5, Bb4, Ab4 and an A3. Are they pitch perfect? No, but very close. Some of the reeds have been manipulated with tiny zip ties so there is some wriggle room. Including weather and use. I include extra ties just in case, but it’s not expected that you’d need them. You can twist open the horn exposing the reed and see what’s going on. Shortening the length of the vibrating end raises the pitch.
Also your percussionist will discover slight variations of pitch available according to how hard they squeeze the bulb.
This set is packed and ready to go. $307 USD. Email me john@squeezehorns.com
Author: John Runs This Place
Gerswhin Set 8/11/26-Sold
1929 Version Gershwin Set of Horns
Moving forward, if I’ve linked to this page from my home page, it’s because I have a set in stock, ready to go. And the audio file (below) will be of the actual set of horns I have for sale. (Most of the information on this page comes to us via the University of Michigan. The entire story of how the 1929 version of pitched horns came to be known is told here: Gershwin Taxi Horns.)

A3 D5 Bb4 Ab4 from left to right. The DCBA refer to how the use of the horns was noted in the score (Not the tones to be played!)
The 4 horn set comes with 4 attaching brackets.
This set of horn’s pitches.
Compare to taxi horns used in the 1929 recording George supervised.
Tijuana Taxi Horn!
Protected: Gershwin Kit 4/28/25
Protected: Gershwin Set 4/16/25
Making Gershwin Sets
I’m guessing a lot of orchestras are putting together their spring/summer concert series. A few of them will be performing “An American In Paris” and are looking for sets of tuned horns. Especially following the more recent discovery of the 1929 version pitches. Happy to say I’m having some success at helping folks out. Still more of an art and I hope to be making my own reeds sometime this year but…



