It's a bear!
R-7 Radio and LM-7 Radio City Model Trombones
Bore: .485"-.500" (12.3 mm-12.7 mm)Bell: 7" (177.8 mm)I've grouped these two horns together because the are so similar
in name and design, with the same specifcations. As is common for the era, the bell and slide serial
numbers do not match; for the Radio City, they are 7 LM 82xx (bell) and
LM87xx (slide) and for the Radio they are 7M 94xx (bell) and R97xx
(slide - Radio models carried the special R designator rather the usual
Olds bore designators). Both horns date from sometime in the
mid-1930's; the Radio City being probably about a year older.
I've never seen any Olds literature on the Radio City model, but the
Radio model appears in an early-mid 1930's CMI catalog and is described
thusly:
Voiced especially for broadcasting
bands, the tone of this model is unusually compact and cannot be
shattered by even mediocre transmitting. The high register is clear as
a bell, the medium register full and rich, and even the low register is
surprisingly resonant for an instrument designed for a purely "tenor"
voice. Rapidly becoming the prime favorite throughtout the famous radio
bands.
Under "Bores", the description states:
Built in one bore only, a special
straight cylindrical tubing extending well into the bell, tapering
slowly to the throat. Designed especially to retain compactness of
tonal quality in the upper register, couteracting the microphone's
tendency to shatter and deepen the pitch. Furnished in either 7-inch
bell (R-7) or 7½-inch (R-7½).
Whatever special bore the Radio model has, it seems to also be present
in the Radio City model, as the tuning slides of the two horns are
interchangeable. So was the whole "special straight cylindrical tubing"
thing just marketing? Maybe not. It's my theory Olds' early bell-tuning
models (the Self Balancing and possibly the Military) were, in essence,
bell tuning versions of the original Olds Standard model, with every
attempt being made to replicate the taper of the TIS bell section in so
far as it was possible in a bell-tuning horn. The Radio and Radio City
models marked a departure from those proportions, with a more nearly
cylindrical bore extending farther into the bell section. As a side
note: it seems that these more cylindrical proportions became the norm
for Olds - the tuning slide of my late 1930's Super (wide tone ring)
fits either of these horns.
Overall View
Radio on left,
Radio City on right |
Bell Engraving
Radio
|
Bell Engraving
Radio City
|
Braces
Radio
|
Braces
Radio City
|
Horns in cases,
Radio on right,
Radio City on left
|
Upper Bell Braces
Radio
|
Upper Bell Braces and
Bear Counterweight
Radio City
|
End Crook
Radio
|
End Crook
Radio City
|