Latest Vintage Trumpet Find

[Brassman19]

I don't know how many of my other fellow T.H. members feel this way, but, next to playing the trumpet/cornet/flugelhorn and continuing to work through my comeback (stopped playing for 34 years, have been back at it again now for app. a year-and-a-half), I really enjoy looking for and buying/collecting unique, older vintage trumpets.

My latest find is (from the best I can ascertain from the reading and research I have done) a 1935 Elkhart Band Instruments reverse-wrap tuning slide and third valve slide trumpet, also with a (functioning) underslung third slide, fixed ring. Really a nice horn, and it also plays very well too.

Again, from what I have read, Buescher discontinued the Elkhart line in 1936, retaining the name/trademark only, and used it on their student line horns from then on. My trumpet is made, looks like, and plays very much like a pro-level horn, is very solidly built and put together, seems to have somewhat of a light-weight bell, and originally looks to have had an A to B flat adjustment/stop rod (now missing), and is very attractive in its design and to look at (its mostly complete original lacquer has toned to a beautiful, dark, honey/golden color, and its bell's engraving is very ornate, centered around the head of an elk).

Its tone seems to have a solid core to it, and, unlike many other horns from that era, is not too bright or "laser-like" (its bell is only 4 1/2" across, but the horn is not a pea shooter wrap), and sounds very much more like horns from the 50's, 60's, even like some made today. It plays very nicely and easily.

Is anyone else out there familiar with, or have ever seen, or owned one in this brand like mine? If so, what do you know about it? Is it a pro-level horn from that time? I am very pleased with having found and bought it (and almost for a "song" too).
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[cgaiii]

Congratulations on your find.
Would love to see some pictures.
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Bb: Schilke X3L AS SP, Yamaha YTR-6335S
C: Schilke CXL, Kanstul 1510-2
Picc: Kanstul 920
Bb Bugle: Kanstul
Bb Pocket: Manchester Brass
Flugel: Taylor Standard
Bass Trumpet: BAC Custom
Natural Tr: Custom Haas replica by Nikolai Mänttäri Morales

[Acludwig1]

Seems interesting, can’t wait to see some pictures. Where did you find this, because man do I love looking for vintage instruments, but I rarely ever have any luck.

[JonathanM]

I'm with you. I enjoy playing, but it's such a thrill to find a new, um, old horn. I found (locally) a New York Symphony Special a few weeks ago, and purchased it last Tuesday. Such a thrill! I told the seller, "I'll enjoy cleaning this horn, polishing it, lubing it up and getting it back into nice playing condition almost as much as I'll enjoy playing it." And I meant it.

As to your horn... Congrats! What a fantastic, rare find!! Color me jealous.
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Jonathan Milam
Trumpets: 18043B, 18043*, 18043 Sterling Silver +, 18037 SterlingSilver+, Benge 4x, Olds: '34 Symphony, '47 Super, '52 Recording
Flugle: Strad 182
Puje: American Belle
Cornet: Olds Recording & Super

[Brassman19]

Thanks for the congratulations. I feel very fortunate to have found it.

Nearly all of my horns I have bought have been found on EBay, as was this latest one. It was posted by a charity group there at a ridiculously low starting bid, and I watched it for several days to see if anyone would bid on it. Much to my surprise, no one ever did, so on the last day of the auction, with about four hours remaining, I put in a maximum bid .01 cents more than the starting bid, and later that night found out I won it.

The horn needs a couple of minor repairs done to it (one of the bell braces needs to be soldered together, and the underslung third valve slide ring needs to be straightened back into round, both of which my excellent repairman can do easily and cheaply-- I also need to replace the outer valve key and inner valve felt pads, which are very cheap, and I can do them myself), but, again, I was very surprised that no one else even bid on the horn, and especially that I got it so cheaply.

I have also bought a couple of horns from Shopgoodwill.com (they usually always have a couple or more of collectible, vintage trumpets posted there, and in fact, right now, have at least four or five worthy of bidding on), plus off of Offerup.com.

I would be very glad to post pictures of my horn here for everyone to see, but don't really know how. Can someone advise me how to go about doing that?
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[Brassman19]

Hi. Just wanted to update everyone who responded here and let you know I finally was able to figure out how to post pictures of my "newest" old horn here. I went back into some older T.H. posts on the subject, and saw the instructions on how to do so there.

I will be posting several pics of my horn soon, most likely this coming weekend, as it is just too tough time-wise for me to do that sort of thing on week nights, due to work to home travel time, then my duties to my family in the evenings, etc. Sorry it is taking me so long, but I will share the pics so I can get everyone's feedback, etc. regarding my trumpet.
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[sounds7]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vnvsTSzPjwVTy-BTfmpyb9Uw

My ebay find. Buescher 400 lightweight 217 from 1956, Buescher made some very fine instruments in those days.
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47 Martin Committee #3
Buescher lightweight 400 228
Buescher lightweight 400 217
Taylor/Harrelson/MAW
Warburton model 235
Stomvi Mambo #5
Conn constellation 38a cor.
Courtois 301 Orchestra C
Yamaha Custom 9830 pic
Yamaha 731 /Harrelson mod

[Bwat]

[sounds7]

Go to http://www.buescherloyalist.com for some cool info, pics and serial numbers.

[Brassman19]

Great find, Sounds7! Congratulations. From all I have read and heard from others who have played and own them, Buescher's Aristocrat (and other of their models too) were and are very fine-playing professional horns, including the era from which yours was made.

I haven't had the pleasure yet of playing or owning one myself (although my "new" vintage Elkhart Band Imstruments trumpet was made by them, and appears similar to, and has some similar or identical design features in it to a couple of Buescher's pro horn models from that era), but I can imagine yours is a great playing and sounding horn, if my Elkhart one is close or similar to yours' playing qualities, (and my horn plays quite well).

Isn't it just FUN getting ahold of and playing these horns? Thank you for sharing your find.
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[yourbrass]

I had a Buescher from the 50's that had an unusable bell and many missing small parts so I decided to scrap it for parts. As I took it down to its base components I was impressed by the craftsmanship of its build - everything was meticulously put together. The lead pipe and tubing was similar in size to Calicchio, so I saved all that stuff for some future project. I hope I live long enough to get to it!
-Lionel
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"Strive for tone." -John Coppola
Edwards X-13
ACB MV3C /ACB A1/26 backbore
https://yourbrass.com/

[Brassman19]

Okay, here now for everyone's "viewing pleasure," finally, is the link to my Flickr account pics of my recent Elkhart Band Instrument Company Trumpet find:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/185663448@N07/

I have seven different pictures of the horn posted, taken at different angles, so everyone can get a good idea of how it looks, its condition, features, etc.

As you can see, the horn has some areas of lacquer loss (mainly around the valve block area, where the hands hold it to play), and a few dents and dings, minor scratches, but overall I think it is in pretty nice condition.

Anyone who would like, please let me know what you think of it, and especially if you have any further specific information, history, background, , propietary knowledge about it, etc. regarding its particular model, exact year of manufacturer, whether or not it was a pro horn, or if anyone else you know might know something about it. I am also interested to hear back from anyone out there who also currently has, or has owned and played this particular horn, what their impression is of it. Thanks.
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[VetPsychWars]

[Brassman19]

Thank you Tom for the info. I know back in the era when my trumpet was made, there really wasn't any such thing as a "student" line horn, but rather the horn makers would have a "budget," or more economical line to go along with their regular line of instruments which was usually in no way inferior to their pro line, plus they would often also make stencil horns for resellers, etc. through their secondary line (those often used lesser-grade materials, more automation in their assembling, and consequently less quality in how they were put together, and, ultimately, how they played and performed). My horn looks, feels and plays very much like a pro horn from that era, so it definitely isn't second-rate in its manufacturing or materials.

You also confirmed about my horn what I have read, and also suspected was the case, in that it appears to have a mix of both Conn and Buescher components which were used in its assembly, and likely the parts you referred to as having been bought by them "off the shelf" were from Conn, especially since there was such a "cozy relationship" between their company and the leadership of Conn.

Do you possibly have any idea of what my horn's specs are (i.e., its bore), plus if there is a specific model number which was assigned by Elkhart to it? Or was it the only model which was produced by them at that time? There is currently another nearly identical Elkhart BIC trumpet to mine for sale on Reverb.com right now, except it is finished in a satin and bright silver plate, but I believe mine is either a bit older, or slightly newer in its production year than that one, as there is just a slight bit of variance in some of my horn's features compared to it. I would assume the version in silver plate may have been marketed as being a bit more higher-end horn than mine, though without the plating, it appears to be virtually the exact same horn.

If Buescher trumpets play as well or better than my Elkhart horn, then they must be mighty good horns indeed. I REALLY enjoy playing mine, as it is free, open and easy to play, and has a really nice, colorful tone.
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[VetPsychWars]

I am not aware of Elkhart model numbers before about 1950 or serial starting perhaps 80,000 or so.

For bore, no way of knowing without measuring but since yours resembles an Aristocrat, I would guess close to 0.455".

The Buescher horns really are magic. Because they are very efficient and shut down if you overblow them, many modern players pass them by.

Tom
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1950 Buescher Lightweight 400 Trumpet
1949 Buescher 400 Trumpet
1939 Buescher 400 Cornet
GR65M, GR65 Cor #1

[Manuel de los Campos]

[RIRed]

My wife uncle recently passed away. He played with Stan Kenton for years. We were fortunate enough to end up with several of his trumpets and flugelhorns. Hopefully this is the start to a nice collection of awesome horns.

[Brassman19]

Very nice for you RIRed! I'm glad you are off to such a good start on a vintage trumpets collection. Perhaps you can post pics of those horns here at T.H., so all of us can see them. I'll bet they are some very nice instruments.

I am not selling this, nor is it my horn or posting, but in case anyone is interested in seeing and maybe even bidding on it for their collection, the silver-plated, nearly identical version of my Elkhart BIC trumpet in very nice condition I mentioned earlier is now listed on EBay, at the below link:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223191376114
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1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,

[RIRed]

Not sure how to post my pictures.

Here’s a list of the horns:

Silver Bach Stradivarius serial #6173. Made in 1942. The bore is M (.453)

Silver Olds Ambassador serial #949881. Made Nov. 1974

Silver Benge flugelhorn model 3 serial #24060. Made in 1978. resno tempered bell. Made in Los Angeles CA

Brand new Yamaha flugelhorn model YFH631G. Serial #449449

5 mouthpieces - 1 Schilke 15F, 2 Irving R Bush w-3D, 1 Bach 10-1/2C and 1 Superchops 3

I also have 2 nice leather gig bags. One for a trumpet and one for a flugelhorn.

My wife’s uncle’s ‘love of his life’ horn was his Benge trumpet serial #2411. The bore is ML (.460). It has a resno bell w/ the staff logo. He got it from Lew Soloff. It has since been given to a student of his at his request. The man nearly cried when she gave it to him. We had the pleasure of hearing him play it a club in NY City.
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[Brassman19]

That's a pretty nice list of horns RIRed. You are very fortunate to have them (I myself would love to own a genuine Benge trumpet [especially a Chicago one, though a nice Burbank, or LA horn would be great too], but that is another subject by itself entirely).

It really is pretty simple to set it up to "post" pictures here, though actually what can be done really is just pasting a URL weblink to a folder where the pictures are stored, and can be viewed.

There are a number of internet photo-sharing sites out there which can be used to do this (some are free of charge, but most of them have some kind of limitations, others which charge a monthly service fee, but allow you unlimited space to post, plus some unique editing, sharing, etc. functions and services). I personally use the basic, free Flickr account for my pics (it has a max. limit of 1,000 pics posted, but I will never come close to posting that many, so it works for me).

After you set up your account with the service you choose, all that has to be done then is create a folder in which you upload your pictures taken of your horns (probably the best overall format to save the pics in is JPEG)-- you can either save them all to one folder, and then individually label each picture with a unique, descriptive tag, or you can create separate folders for each individual instrument, and also label each pic within the folders in the same manner.

Once you have that all complete and set up as you want it/them, you go into the instruments' folder(s), click on the URL in the line above (make certain the entire line is highlighted),, right click and choose "Copy," and then go into an open post or new response you make to a post here in T.H., right click your mouse within the post, and click "Paste", and the URL link (or links, if you set up each instruments' pics files in separatefolders) will become a hyperlink within your response which the rest of us can click on and go to see your pictures. Does this all make sense to you?
_________________
1954 Holton Super Collegiate Trumpet (Yellow brass w/nickel silver bell flare, like the Olds Studio model)
1961 pro Holton Galaxy Trumpet
Bach 1C mp (Trumpet,