TromboneChat

Happened upon an ad yesterday that had an intriguing horn in the bunch- at a glance it looked like a 6H. So I went and picked them up.

What I ended up with is a Century 76H- .522, narrow slide, 8.5" bell. What a strange horn! Seems to play well enough, just mystified as to what it's for. Excited to get the slide worked on and some dings taken out.

Almost more interesting is this "The Olds," dating to 1937. .485/.500 dual bore, 7" bell, friction fit with no slide lock. Still an amazing slide and quite the shouter!

Also got a Blessing Scholastic, but... who cares.

What vintage do you think the 76H is?
Is it a "sub-professional" version of the 78H (also medium bore, no valve; typically 8" bell)?
Use it wherever you'd use a Bach 36 (small orchestra, chamber ensemble, ...).

So many of those (inevitably old) Olds trombones are remarkable. Built to last! From Los Angeles through Fullerton, quality trombones.

The 76H is abilene only- this one appears to be from '73

I'm surprised they didn't call the Conn "Cenntury"

Oh, and the Olds has a fluted slide. Very cool.

I bet even Conn didn't know what the century was for...

greenbean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:55 pm I bet even Conn didn't know what the century was for...

That's the vibe I get. It's like they mashed a 78H and 6H together.

I believe the 76H shared slided with the 50H which is narrower and slightly longer than the 78H. I have a picture of the 50H and 79H slides together somewhere.

Burgerbob wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2024 11:16 pm Oh, and the Olds has a fluted slide. Very cool.

Are they actually fluted (i.e., lands and grooves) or are they duo-octagonal? Olds only made the actual fluted inners for a year or two, so they're pretty rare.

JohnL wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 6:55 pm

Burgerbob wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2024 11:16 pm Oh, and the Olds has a fluted slide. Very cool.

Are they actually fluted (i.e., lands and grooves) or are they duo-octagonal? Olds only made the actual fluted inners for a year or two, so they're pretty rare.

Sorry, duo-octagonal!

Trav1s wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 6:33 pm I believe the 76H shared slided with the 50H which is narrower and slightly longer than the 78H. I have a picture of the 50H and 79H slides together somewhere.

Did the 50H have a nickel crook?

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a 50H with a nickel crook. All the ones I’ve seen have been brass…

74H and 75H also have a nickel crook. Based on all the close-up slide pictures I've found, it appears that the 50H/74H/75H/76H all share the same basic, narrow, yellow brass slide with unequal receivers (along with the 8.5" bell), but the 50H slide has a yellow crook and yellow oversleeves.

50H:





74H:





75H:





76H:





The 78H slide is entirely different, with short equal receivers.

The real conundrum is that some of these Abilene slides have been measured at .515" bore (3 1/2 bore in Conn-speak) which matches what the Conn Loyalist lists the 74H/75H/76H as, but the 50H is universally .522" bore (3 3/4) and the 76H in question here is also .522" bore (3 3/4).

And possibly the most important question is...do they all have the same leadpipe?

While we are at it, the 78H and 79H have different receivers. As mentioned, 78H = short equal and 79H are like the other receivers in the pics above.

I've wondered about leadpipes too.