Olds French Model Trumpet
Frank Ellsworth Olds started making trombones in about 1915, with
his son Reginald Birdsall joining the firm in about 1920. The two
had just finished designing a new trumpet in 1928 when F.E. Olds
died unexpectedly. At the time his son reported that the new trumpet
design had been a life long study of his father. The company went
ahead with the introduction of the trumpets and early on were
offering at least two bore sizes and two different bell designs. Within
four years of their first trumpet, the hammered bell such as seen here
was offered as an option. Olds introduced some new models within
another two years named Symphony, Military and French Models.
The early catalogues mentioned that the hammered finish bells,
standard on the Military, was optional on the other two models. This
is the only French model with a hammered bell known to me or
entered in The Olds Register. More Olds historical facts and
literature are available at Olds Central. Most of the above
information is gleaned from these websites. Newly learned serial
number data indicates that this trumpet was made about 1938. The
overall length, without mouthpiece, is 19 3/4" (18 15/16" from bell
rim to edge of bell curve). The bell rim diameter is 4 11/16" and the
bore measures .460".
This is an extremely well preserved original instrument, showing only
a small amount of wear in the original lacquer. The "French fitted"
case with oxidized hardware, as described in the catalogue, is also
original. You will quickly see a few anomalous features on this
trumpet. The finger hook is mounted on the bell instead of the
mouthpipe and the shank of first slide hook is bent so that the thumb
of the left hand can reach it even as the fingers of that hand are being
used to finger the valves. These two hooks have what is obviously
the original lacquer, indicating that it was not modified later. In
addition, the waterkey on the main tuning slide is mounted on the left
side (blocking the third slide movement). The third slide ring wasn't
present when I received the instrument and I don't think that the
original player used that slide while playing. On close inspection, the
wear pattern on the tuning slide tubes indicates that the trumpet was
held with a fingerless hand or handless arm on the right. This seems
to account for all of the mechanics of the trumpet being accessible by
the left hand. In later years, rather than adapting standard production
trumpets such as this, Olds made a few left handed, mirror image
trumpets Perhaps one of those was for this same player.
his son Reginald Birdsall joining the firm in about 1920. The two
had just finished designing a new trumpet in 1928 when F.E. Olds
died unexpectedly. At the time his son reported that the new trumpet
design had been a life long study of his father. The company went
ahead with the introduction of the trumpets and early on were
offering at least two bore sizes and two different bell designs. Within
four years of their first trumpet, the hammered bell such as seen here
was offered as an option. Olds introduced some new models within
another two years named Symphony, Military and French Models.
The early catalogues mentioned that the hammered finish bells,
standard on the Military, was optional on the other two models. This
is the only French model with a hammered bell known to me or
entered in The Olds Register. More Olds historical facts and
literature are available at Olds Central. Most of the above
information is gleaned from these websites. Newly learned serial
number data indicates that this trumpet was made about 1938. The
overall length, without mouthpiece, is 19 3/4" (18 15/16" from bell
rim to edge of bell curve). The bell rim diameter is 4 11/16" and the
bore measures .460".
This is an extremely well preserved original instrument, showing only
a small amount of wear in the original lacquer. The "French fitted"
case with oxidized hardware, as described in the catalogue, is also
original. You will quickly see a few anomalous features on this
trumpet. The finger hook is mounted on the bell instead of the
mouthpipe and the shank of first slide hook is bent so that the thumb
of the left hand can reach it even as the fingers of that hand are being
used to finger the valves. These two hooks have what is obviously
the original lacquer, indicating that it was not modified later. In
addition, the waterkey on the main tuning slide is mounted on the left
side (blocking the third slide movement). The third slide ring wasn't
present when I received the instrument and I don't think that the
original player used that slide while playing. On close inspection, the
wear pattern on the tuning slide tubes indicates that the trumpet was
held with a fingerless hand or handless arm on the right. This seems
to account for all of the mechanics of the trumpet being accessible by
the left hand. In later years, rather than adapting standard production
trumpets such as this, Olds made a few left handed, mirror image
trumpets Perhaps one of those was for this same player.