Any info on the "American Premier" trombone?

[thomas19]

I just bought a trombone off of ebay, called an American Premier, and I cant find any information on it. Theres no serial number on it, the only identification is the words "American Premier" engraved into the bell. The seller told me that it's from the 1910's to 1930's, and it could be a stencil for a Martin trombone, but didnt give me any sources so take that with a grain of salt. The instrument itself is extremely small. The mouthpiece reciever barely fits my Shilke 51D, which is a small shank. Its silver plated, and has a fancy counterweight on the tuning slide. It plays extremely well. Excellent tone, very easy high register. The slide has a dent in it which slows it down a bit but I imagine once I fix it, it will work perfectly. I hope someone can help me find a bit of info on this instrument, I would really like to learn about it.


UPDATE
While cleaning it (a rather disgusting task) I discovered the number "11" on the inner and outer slide braces. I will post two new pics in a reply.


Thanks.

[Posaunus]

Looks intriguing. If it's very small bore (likely) you certainly will do better with a mouthpiece smaller than your quite large Schilke 51D. If the receiver is also small, you might try an Olds tenor trombone mouthpiece, which will have an undersized shank that might fit better. Perhaps an Olds 3 (ubiquitous) or even smaller Olds 4 (rarer).

Have fun!

[thomas19]

Looks intriguing. If it's very small bore (likely) you certainly will do better with a mouthpiece smaller than your quite large Schilke 51D. If the receiver is also small, you might try an Olds tenor trombone mouthpiece, which will have an undersized shank that might fit better. Perhaps an Olds 3 (ubiquitous) or even smaller Olds 4 (rarer).

Have fun!

It actually came with an Olds 3. It fits a lot better. I used the 51D on my King 2B, I'm going to miss it a lot lol. I have a 6 1/2 al that fits a bit better but that isnt saying much. I tried the Olds 3 and I personally didnt like it but then again I played on it for less then 5 minutes so I will try playing on it for a week or so and see if I can get used to it/like it.

Thanks for the reply!

[JohnL]

If you're one of those uncommon people for whom a 51D works on a small horn, the closest thing in the Olds universe is a 1 (not a 1☆, just a 1). They were the largest of the small-shank Olds trombone mouthpieces, and are the next most common after the 3. Of course, you could always have someone turn down the shank on a 51D.

As for who made it? Well, the counterweight makes me think Buescher.

[walldaja]

Kind of in remarkable shape! Looking forward to hearing more about it!

What does the water key look like?

[thomas19]

Kind of in remarkable shape! Looking forward to hearing more about it!

What does the water key look like?

Theres the water key. It also has the number "11" stamped on the inner and outer slide brace, I have attached the water key image here, I will add both onto the original post.

[thomas19]

Here are the images I promised.

[thomas19]

If you're one of those uncommon people for whom a 51D works on a small horn, the closest thing in the Olds universe is a 1 (not a 1☆, just a 1). They were the largest of the small-shank Olds trombone mouthpieces, and are the next most common after the 3. Of course, you could always have someone turn down the shank on a 51D.

As for who made it? Well, the counterweight makes me think Buescher.

I looked up some Buescher trombones, it looks very similar to a True Tone Model 38.

Thanks for your reply, it helps a lot!