Olds Studio Trombone. Great Player. .500 Straight Notre.

This is a mid-60s Olds Studio. They are rather a rarity, and very interesting horns. Up until this point, nearly every horn that old built was dual bore with a relatively small bell. This particular run of Studios had a .500 bore and an 8-in Bell.

This is one of my two favorite horns for playing gigs, because it has excellent presence and it cuts well. It has a very manageable sound, but it can get very live and edgy if that's the sound you're looking for.

I've always played it with Bach mouthpieces, which don't insert fully because at this time Olds was still using a smaller mouthpiece receiver.

As you can see, the finish is questionable. It was stored poorly, and much of the nickel plating was worn away. The most obvious where in the nickel was in the bell flare, so I buffed that out to a brass color, giving the opposite of the original Olds Studio which had a brass bell throat and a nickel flare. It has been lacquered, but it's still not very pretty. I kept the lacquer thin because I like the resonance, and since this was my working horn, I didn't care too much about the aesthetics.

The slide works very well. It has a bit of pitting in the stocking, but all tubes are straight and it falls very well under its own weight when held between the 4:00 and 5:00 position.

It comes in a large Conn case which has been modified to fit it. The only problem with putting it in this case is that this tuning slide needs to be extended to get it to fit fully in the case. Other than that, the fit is quite good.

One other thing about the case. Something has fallen behind the plastic bolsters. It could be a pencil, it could be a krugerrand, I have no idea and I can't get it to shake out. If that's the kind of thing that bothers you, maybe this isn't the case for you. Or you could think of it as a very simple rain stick or percussion instrument.

Please email me if you want any more information about this one.