TromboneChat

Hello I have a friend at an auction and they saw this superbone and asked me about it. I'm honestly nowhere near an expert in that so I was wondering if anyone knew about them and the prices? Here are some pictures

Valve trombone, not superbone.

Pan American is pretty old and not especially sought after. I'd assume this horn is pretty small if it's playable. A couple hundred bucks.

I would say 100. Or preferably less...

Pan American was Conn's student line before they introduced the Director. At the same time King was using American Standard as their student line. Most of these date from either side of World War II (roughly 1930 to 1960).

Superbone was trademarked by Holton as a valve-slide combination instrument. Up until the Superbone was introduced (at the request of Maynard Ferguson) in the 1960s there were no combination valve-slide trombones, so this cannot be a Superbone. King used to offer a valve section sized to fit the 2B and 3B bells so you could have an instrument that was slide OR valve (but not both at the same time). Similarly, you could use a Conn 5G valve section with a 6H bell to make a 6H valve or slide instrument (again, but not both).

The only valve-slide instruments I am aware of are the Holton Superbone, some German models, and some Chinese knock-offs.

BGuttman wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:13 amUp until the Superbone was introduced (at the request of Maynard Ferguson) in the 1960s there were no combination valve-slide trombones, so this cannot be a Superbone.

The combination valve-slide trombone existed long before the Superbone...Holton just coined the name. Beforehand it was called a "valide" trombone and was manufactured by multiple makes including Conn and Getzen. Here's a Conn from 1884. We know about the Superbone because Maynard popularized it and it has a catchy name, but there were others before it.

Finetales wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:23 am
The combination valve-slide trombone existed long before the Superbone...Holton just coined the name. Beforehand it was called a "valide" trombone and was manufactured by multiple makes including Conn and Getzen. Here's a Conn from 1884. We know about the Superbone because Maynard popularized it and it has a catchy name, but there were others before it.

This is a beautiful looking instrument. I didn’t know that the valve and slide trombone existed prior to Holton’s Superbone.

Are sure this actually has a slide? It's not just a valve trombone?