I bought a Conn New Wonder Series I straight-necked c-mel about six months ago, and it's a fabulous old horn. I believe their bad rap is largely due to the problem of trying to match contemporary reeds with vintage mouthpieces. Initially, my horn was stuffy and poorly intonated. But with a modern Beechler mouthpiece and Bb tenor reeds, it has a wonderful sound--very open throughout its range, and very well intonated, too. It isn't quite as bright as my alto, and not quite as husky as my tenor. Yet it's capable of sounding very light and lyrical or amazingly dark and moody. It has a tremendous bottom! It seems to me to be a pretty versatile little horn. I'm a hobby player, and mostly play jazz guitar these days. The c-mel allows me to play out of any of my fake books without transposition, which some pianists or guitarists will find useful. The sheer craftsmanship that went into the horn is incredible. The tenor player in my rehearsal band has played my c-mel several times, and he can really make it sing. Finally, the horn gives me one last bit of ownership pleasure: I sometimes place it on its stand and just admire it for the beautiful piece of silver plated and gold washed sculptural art that it is. C-mels are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, and they are capable of being great-sounding instruments. They probably won't ever find total acceptance, but I'm completely happy with mine. I say "Go for it."