It's
a bear!
1973 Olds F-15 Alto Trombone
Bore: .468" (11.9 mm)
Bell: 5¾" (146 mm)Olds alto trombones have a long, if somewhat obscure,
history.
Olds is known to have made at least one
Eb alto, but their
"production" alto trombone was keyed in F. Although at least one
pre-WWII specimen exists (in the hands of Doug Elliott as of this
writing), the earliest catalog reference I've seen is from around 1950.
It's not present in the late 1950's catalogs that are
available on
the web, nor in the
circa
1961 catalog, but resurfaces, sans the "Ambassador" name, in about
1962. Although it's not in the catalogs, it's likely that Olds
built some F altos on special request during the 1950's and early
1960's - in
fact, it was probably that sort of interest that prompted its return to
the catalog. Later Olds literature (price lists from 1973, 1974, and
1978, as well as a 1977 sales brochure) do not show the F alto, but the
instrument in the photos below was built around April 1973, indicating
that production continued for at least that long.
|
circa 1950; full catalog here |
|
circa 1962; full catalog here
The
F-15's price of $189.50 was the same as that for the L15 Special tenor
trombone. For comparison, the A-15 Ambassador was $154.50 and the S-15
Super was $260 ($280 in the "deluxe oval gladstone case") |
|
1966; full catalog here |
|
circa 1967; full catalog here |
| 1970; full catalog here |
Priced
at $129.50 (the same as the regular Ambassador tenor), the Ambassador
alto was certainly affordable, and its shorter slide,
coupled
with its lighter weight, would have made it much easier to
play
for someone of smaller stature, but the idea of using an alto trombone
as a beginner's horn didn't catch on. It's interesting to note that the
concept resurfaced decades later with the introduction of the pBone
Mini "plastic" (actually made of ABS and glass fibre) Eb alto trombone.
The F alto show below carries a serial number of 8361xx, dating it from
around April of 1973. It's yellow brass, with conventional three-piece
braces similar to those used on Olds "Custom" model trombones. I've
shown it side-by-side with a P-15 Custom tenor trombone to give an idea
of the alto's comparative size. The mouthpiece
in some of the images is an original Olds F Alto
mouthpiece.
Overall View
Front |
Engraving
|
Side-by-Side
with P-15 Custom |
Overall View
Back |
End Crook
Detail |
Case |
This horn was sold to me with what was purported to be the original
mouthpiece; an Olds No. 44. There's been some debate through the years
as to what mouthpiece shipped with these horns; it's possible that some
were furnished with Olds No. 44 (Bell Front Alto) or Olds No. 27
(Mellophone) mouthpieces, but the catalog excerpt below (taken from the
1967 Olds catalog
here)
lists a special Olds No. F for the F Alto Trombone. Fortunately, I was
able to obtain an genuine Olds No. F from Dr. Steve Close, a fellow
Olds fan.
Here
are a couple images showing the Olds No. F alongside a No. 44 and a No.
3 tenor trombone mouthpiece, along with an image of the No. F alongside
a replica made for me by
Kanstul Music.
These horns have a reputation for not working well with tenor trombone
mouthpieces, even small ones with cut-down shanks. This has been a
problem for people who (like myself) purchase an F-15 without the
original mouthpiece, but now that Kanstul has a digital scan
on
file, they can produce replicas for anyone who needs one.
Left-to-Right
Olds 44 (alto horn)
Olds F (alto trombone)
Olds 3 (tenor trombone) |
Left-to-Right
Olds 44 (alto horn)
Olds F (alto trombone)
Olds 3 (tenor trombone) |
Left-to-Right
Olds F (alto trombone)
Kanstul Replica |