Hand-Hammered Olds

[SlideCrook]

My wife bought me a trombone for Valentine’s Day. It is an LA Olds, with a 7 inch bell, ML stamp, tuning in bell, friction fit. The most stunning part of it is the hand-hammered bell section, and a previous owner’s name engraved on the gooseneck tuning slide leg. It also comes with an Olds 4 mouthpiece (never seen one before).

The bell only has engraved “OLDS” (not “THE OLDS”) along with “made by FE Olds & Sons” & “Los Angeles, California”

Is this an Olds Military? An Olds Self-Balancing?
No model name is engraved. But this hand-hammered finish is so intriguing. I think it’s from the 30s.

I’ll include some pictures. This thing looks 10 times better in person than in the pictures. My wife thinks it may be gold plated.
This thing SINGS from high C to Treble-Top F.

[Doug Elliott]

Nice. I've seen pictures of that before.

[SlideCrook]

Also, no slide lock. And the slide is easily one of the best I own.

The slide does not have outer sleeves.

The inners are round.

[Neo Bri]

I think this looks really cool. Why don't you post pictures farther away?

[Elow]

http://www.itsabear.com/horns/Military/military.html Specs sound like a military, but theres no eagle engraving or military name engraved but the rim engraving looks similar. Looks like youve got yourself a cool horn

[BGuttman]

There used to be an option to have the planishing around the bell throat. It was an extra cost option and my Olds came with it but because I didn't know what it was I had it removed FWIW, mine is TIS, Medium Large bore, with an 8 inch bell.

I believe the tuning in bell instruments were called "self-balancing".

I know that some instruments had the entire bell section planished. If anybody would know it would be JohnL.

Looks lovely.

[Doubler]

Gorgeous trombone!

There's a wealth of information to be found at http://rouses.net/trumpet/olds.htm .

[Oslide]

Just for the record, "It's a bear!" (http://www.itsabear.com/)
is a web documentation dedicated to the history of Olds trombones, run by JohnL here on TC.

[Vegastokc]

Stunning,
Looks like something a modern boutique customizer would do today.

[JohnL]

Do the outer slide tubes have a "stocking" on the upper end? That was one of the other features of the Military model.

If I were to hazard a guess, what you have is a Self-Balancing that someone special-ordered with the hammered finish. That's a pretty early serial number, so it might have been before Olds began offering the Military as a distinct model.

[Doubler]

Just for the record, "It's a bear!" (http://www.itsabear.com/)
is a web documentation dedicated to the history of Olds trombones, run by JohnL here on TC.

[SlideCrook]

Yes, the outer slides DO have a stocking on them.

A lot of the info is pointing me towards the Military, it’s just that all of the other Military’s I’ve found had “Military Model” engraved on the bell.

Did the Self-Balancing have the drawn outer stockings, or did it have outer sleeves?



I’ve also researched the name that was artfully engraved on the tuning slide, he was a Scottish Rite Mason, and started the Iowa All Veterans band in Des Moines, Iowa in 1996

[FOSSIL]

I remember being shown one of these by the late Laddie Busby. He had won it in a competition in his younger days. It was new when presented to him and looked beautiful. I asked him why he never used it and he replied 'oh, it's awful '.

Chris

[Oslide]

What a great present from your wife. Congratulations!

The work hardening effected by the hammering will most likely influence the sound of such horns. Can anyone elaborate on this?

[JohnL]

Looks like it has a really narrow slide, which is also characteristic of a Military. Olds had a tendency to not engrave model names on their trombones in the early days. I'd say it's a early Military.

The work hardening effected by the hammering will most likely influence the sound of such horns. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Hard to say, since all bells are hammered to some degree. It may be that they just used a different shaped hammer to produce that look.

I remember being shown one of these by the late Laddie Busby. He had won it in a competition in his younger days. It was new when presented to him and looked beautiful. I asked him why he never used it and he replied 'oh, it's awful '.

I wonder if that opinion was a reference to the way the horn played or to the ergonomics? That narrow slide can be a pain.

[SlideCrook]

This is the most brilliant horn I’ve ever played. It is by no means a chameleon. If it try to turn on the dark, it gets translated to fuzzy. It is stubborn. If I tell it to do anything it doesn’t want to do, it refuses. Maybe I just haven’t learned to play it. But, this horn’s upper register slots ridiculously well. It makes Urbie Green Ave Maria fun to play.

The mouthpiece I’m using is an Olds 4 that came with it. Which has a .968 inch cup ID.

Later this week I will use a King 11M, VB MV 12C, and see how they play, and a small shank 1G for fun.

[FOSSIL]

Looks like it has a really narrow slide, which is also characteristic of a Military. Olds had a tendency to not engrave model names on their trombones in the early days. I'd say it's a early Military.

The work hardening effected by the hammering will most likely influence the sound of such horns. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Hard to say, since all bells are hammered to some degree. It may be that they just used a different shaped hammer to produce that look.

I remember being shown one of these by the late Laddie Busby. He had won it in a competition in his younger days. It was new when presented to him and looked beautiful. I asked him why he never used it and he replied 'oh, it's awful '.

I wonder if that opinion was a reference to the way the horn played or to the ergonomics? That narrow slide can be a pain.

He played a Conn 24H so was used to narrow slides. He simply didn't like it.

Chris

[Oslide]

This is the most brilliant horn I’ve ever played. It is by no means a chameleon. If it try to turn on the dark, it gets translated to fuzzy. It is stubborn. If I tell it to do anything it doesn’t want to do, it refuses. Maybe I just haven’t learned to play it. But, this horn’s upper register slots ridiculously well. It makes Urbie Green Ave Maria fun to play.

The mouthpiece I’m using is an Olds 4 that came with it. Which has a .968 inch cup ID.

The Olds 4 I have is very good in the upper register which may emphasize the bright character of the horn.

The work hardening effected by the hammering will most likely influence the sound of such horns. Can anyone elaborate on this?

Hard to say, since all bells are hammered to some degree. It may be that they just used a different shaped hammer to produce that look.

You're certainly right here, however during the 'normal' process the hammering is applied before spinning the bell, whereas in this case it's surely been done after that.

Assuming that a brillant, fanfare-like sound may have been favored in military marching bands, the hammering of the bell may have contributed to achieve this?