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Holton ST305 "Banana" A Great Horn



 
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Bozzaman
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 5:58 pm    Post subject: Holton ST305 "Banana" A Great Horn Reply with quote

I've just acquired the first fully-professional HOLTON trumpet I've ever owned. It's a rare ST305. It has a lot to be proud of.

This Holton has a 20-degree bent bell and a .484 bore. It has a valve block that I'd swear is Bach Strad. It even feels like a Strad in my hands. Yes, it does feel like a 'big' horn, but the extra-large bore can be quite satisfying. In addition to an absolutely huge sound, it is incredibly flexible, articulations are more forgiving, and its soft response is better than just about anything I've ever played. What a surprize. If it didn't have that bent bell, I just might have the guts to take it on a few upcomming holiday gigs. At church.

Has anyone ever even seen one of these? The literature out there is quite thin. I never knew until now just how good of a horn the folks at Holton had created. Pics later. John
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crzytptman
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have one with a straight bell. It was my main ax for about 8 years. Great horn!
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nieuwguyski
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I bought one back in the mid-'90s. I was looking for a used ST302 or ST306 MF Horn to use on rock gigs, and Giardinelli had a demo ST305 for sale. I knew what it was, and bought it for the heck of it. I liked how it played, and had Rich Ita set it up with interchangeable bells -- the bent one and a straight, unengraved ST306 bell. It was fun having a "stealth" Banana Horn.

The leadpipe developed red rot within a year (admittedly, shortly after I'd played five straight weeks of Oktoberfest gigs and blown beer vapor and bits of sauerkraut through the horn on a regular basis), oiling the valves was an adventure as it took several minutes to get the top valve caps threaded correctly, and the valves themselves got finicky and took to sticking at inconvenient times (even after I'd thoroughly cleaned the cabbage out).

My heart was starting to wander, and I bought a used Schilke X4b. The Holton sat in the closet for a few years, and I finally sold it to Flip Oakes. It was a fun horn to have though, and I've had some regrets about lettting it go.
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James B. Quick
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm on my second one. I had one that was absolutely mint a couple of yrs. ago that I bought for $1420 on eBay. I got hard up in the winter and I had to sell it, but I got $2000 for it. I bought another one from dBay a couple of months ago. It's pretty beat up, but the inside of the leadpipe is clean. I paid $585. I can afford to keep this one! Yay! jbqd p.s. It Screams!
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Mortakye
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know that this thread is a little old, but I just bought one of these. WOW! what a sound you can get out of it!!.
A while back I came very close to buying the one that was sold to Flip Oakes. The one I ended up with is pretty beat up, but the price was right for a horn that I didn't get to try at all first.
What straight bell would be the closest to the bent one as far as specs go? I really liked the changeble bell set up with a straight bell as well as the bent one.
Does anyone have any other history on the horn? Just who rare are they? I've only come across a couple of them.
Thanks,
Nate
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crzytptman
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Nate
mine has a ST302 bell.
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jstar
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I was at Martin we actually made a group of ST305s for one of the marching bands down south with the "banana bells". The slide tubing came from the old Holton .484 bore cornet as well as the ferrules that have the ridged bumpy appearance. The bell taper was the standard MF Horn bell taper as well as the leadpipe being MF. The valve cluster was our T101 copy of a Bach. Our first prototypes even had .484 bore main slides which we later reduced to .468 or .465. I don't recall that we ever made more than 20 or so straight bell models.The majority were banana bells. It was a real monster horn.
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crzytptman
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was told mine was 1 of 2 that were made with straight bell, the MF 302, and the leadpipe from the MF. Mine has pinky ring, and the valve section looks like a Bach copy. All the slides are .484, but the bell comes out at .468. The valve ports are all different sizes, though, from .462 - .475 or so. It's a good playing horn with a big warm sound, and the upper register is fat and LOUD! I used it most of the time touring with a swing band, using a Callet 15s Bukur.
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thedevilisbad
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What are some of the "good" holton models out there? And what are the years to look out for? I know new holtons aren't that great anymore. At least that's what I've read.
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Greenbean
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Recycling/ reviving this old thread. I just stumbled onto a minty t102s which I think has the XL bore option with a straight bell. Has anyone heard of this variation? I've done some digging and haven't come up with much. Came to the XL conclusion doing a side by side comp with a CG Benge. The 102 was much bigger, tried a second slide swap and the Benge piece was swimming in the Holton? Holton experts??
Thanks in advance,
Jason
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NYC-player
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The ST305 has a .484 bore size if I recall right.

Like a small bore trombone. Big tubby horn. I never saw MF play one anywhere, gave you?
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superviking805
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The T101 and T102 were Holton's copy of the Bach design. The T101 copy's a Bach with the 37 bell and the T102 copy's the Bach 47. I don't think the T102 has any other connection to the banana then they are both from the same manufacturer.
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Greenbean
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 6:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks guys. I guess what I'm getting at is ~What the heck is this thing?~ I know what a T102 is supposed to be and this is not it. Receiver is clearly marked T102s, newer style engraving, newer style medallion on the tuning slide brace, Bach serial number dating to early 80s, MONSTER bore..not .468 or .470, no MF badges anywhere. Is it possible that this was a factory custom or a 305 with a 102 receiver? What do think?
Thanks,
Jason
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NYC-player
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Greenbean wrote:
Thanks guys. I guess what I'm getting at is ~What the heck is this thing?~ I know what a T102 is supposed to be and this is not it. Receiver is clearly marked T102s, newer style engraving, newer style medallion on the tuning slide brace, Bach serial number dating to early 80s, MONSTER bore..not .468 or .470, no MF badges anywhere. Is it possible that this was a factory custom or a 305 with a 102 receiver? What do think?
Thanks,
Jason


Post a pic or two? With markings and such?
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jstar
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The T101 was a copy of a Bach Strad 37 bell 25 lead pipe 459/460 bore.The T102 was aT101 459/460 bore with a different lead pipe ,slightly rounder and larger tuning slide crook and a slightly longer 3rd slide. It had the same 37 bell as the T101. The measurements for the T102 mouth pipe were provided by Global, our Japanese distributor.They worked with us to develop GT102 and GT103. The "G" in front of the "T" stood for Global distributors only.Non Global versions had a "T" only. The GT/T 103 used the T102 lead pipe but in the reversed style and the bell was an MF bell. A great full sounding horn.
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jstar
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Correction---the 3rd slide may have been slightly shorter not longer onT102 andT103.After 25 or so years my memory is a bit rusty.
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jstar
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 9:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Greenbean--- There is almost no connection between the T102 and ST305.The
only primary connection is the Bach copy valve casing.different bells,different lead pipes and different bores. We made a very small amount of straight bell 305's----Probably not over 10 pcs. The primary model involved the bent bell version. We delivered either 25 or 50 of them to Dr. Foster at one of the southern colleges (maybe Florida A&M) Massive sound with great control. So they said and we agreed.
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dershem
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to play on a cousin to that horn - the Martin Magna "Mic Gillette" horn. .470 bore, 6" bell. It was a greathorn. Tried banana horn once and the balance was different, but the blow and sound were similar.
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Greenbean
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the feedback guys. I go back out this week and dig a little deeper. I'll let you know what I find out!
Thanks again
Jason
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