TromboneChat

I bought this Olds P-24G bell section almost 2yrs ago. Fairly decent shape except for the missing slide receiver and bell nut. The plan was to buy a Bach slide receiver and pair the section with an Edwards TDBAN slide (all nickel, dual 0.547/0.562" bore slide that would somewhat mimic what the horn originally came with). I wasn't able to get the Edwards slide (when they were discounted) and I lucked into a Bach Soloist Strad that came with a 0.547" all nickel slide stock from the factory. My tech was able to cobble everything together and it came out very nice.

A few things I've noticed:
1)Even though it's only got a 9" bell, the horn is very heavy. Good thing I had a spare Bullet Brace laying around.

2)The thumb paddle for the F-attachment is a weird U-shape, but it works just fine.

3)The valve setup is unconventional. Instead of the springs at the pivot of each linkage, the springs are inside the rotary valve housing in between the valve itself and the stop plate. Seems to work just fine.

4)Whoever owned this horn previously must either ordered a special attachment tuning slide or had one made. The F tuning slide and the G tuning slide are interchangeable, except that the F is super long. With the tuning slide switched, I'm able to use the modern Bb/F/Gb/D tuning. You can see the switched tuning slides in the photos.

I'm very very pleased with how the horn turned out. Very mellow tone but it really barks when I lean on it.

So you have a straight 547 on it? How does the trigger range sound?

For me the trigger range sounds and feels great. I have to admit that it's been so long since I've had the opportunity to play with 2 valves that my timing/dexterity is off. In my practice the past few days, some double trigger notes don't speak because I'm not fully depressing one of the paddles. That will come back with more practice (which I seem to have much more time for since I'm working from home now).

One reason that my facility in the low range isn't hindered by the 0.547 slide is that I've been without a bass for probably 2 1/2 years. That's about the time I sold my Kanstul MS169 so for basically this entire time I've been playing bass trombone parts with the volunteer orchestra on my 3047AFR (and at times with the Eb tuning slide for the occasional low B natural). Even though I've been playing more 1st and 2nd parts recently, when the score calls for a big presence in the low voices (we only have 2 bass trombones and 3 string double basses in a 180-member orchestra), I'll jump down to the 3rd/4th trombone part for those measures. For example, in our children's concert about a month ago we played 'Harry Potter' and the end had a string of low C's for the bass trombones (an octave down from the 2nd part). The low C's were on the downbeat of '1' while basically the entire rest of the orchestra played on the 'and' of 1. Those are always the most fun.

Even though I can/could play the bass parts on my large bore tenor, I realized that without a bass bell section I wasn't getting the width/core down low (at piano and at fortissimo) that the bass parts called for. Plus, there are some bass parts that 'need' 2 valves to make life easier.

Right now we're short on 1st's so that's where I'm at in the section, but we'll see what the music calls for. At least now I'm better equipped.

Beautiful restoration, thanks for preserving the bell.

I love it, that thing looks good has a lot of character and I bet you their ain’t another one like it

That model of Olds had interchangeable tuning slides so the triggers could be tuned in various configurations, like Bb-F-Gb-D, Bb-F-G-Eb, etc.

Most importantly, how do you like it? Do you like the sound and feel when you play?

The horn plays great! Easier to play than the Kanstul I had, especially in the pedal range. Notes slot well. It seems to me that the gold brass bell is a smaller/thinner gauge than what I'm used to (easy to put dents in this one). High range is very accessible, probably due to a few things: the 0.547" slide and my Giardinelli 1GM mouthpiece being on the 'small bass' side of things as far as specs go. I like the tone I'm getting-- similar to my Getzen but 'more' (more core, more overtones, more overall presence, more volume).

It'll be interesting to compare my sound to the other basses in the section. One has a Bach 50 w/standard rotaries, a 10" bell and open wraps. The other bass is a Getzen 3062AF w/axials and a 9.5" yellow bell. Our orchestra actually has another bass coming on board but I don't know what kind of horn they've got.

I'm sure I come across some things that I don't like about the horn, but for now I'm happy with it.

Update!
I decided to move on from the 0.547" Bach Soloist slide I had been using with the Olds bell section. The issue I was encountering was going from no-trigger notes to 2-trigger notes, especially when the music called for a cressendo. It was just too big of a jump in bore for my feable air support to keep up. Using the $ I got for selling the 0.547" slide, I bought an Edwards TDB slide (nickel oversleeves, yellow brass outers, nickel crook, dual bore 0.547/0.562") in near mint condition. The slide only arrived yesterday so I haven't spent too much time with it yet. Right now I'm using a Shires 3SS leadpipe (with a thread adapter) and it feels great but I'll be sure to experiment with all of the 'open' 0.547 leadpipes I have laying around.