Olds Special trumpet

[Lqbanotxano]

I am looking at a 70’s Silver Olds Special. Is there anyone that can tell me about them. Is there any difference to the lacquer ones?

[Christian K. Peters]

Hello,
Welcome to the TH. I am sure it is okay. I would play it against another intermediate horn for comparison. I am partial to the late 40's Specials. They are great.
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Christian K. Peters
Schilke Loyalist since 1976

[Bflatman]

The 1970 Olds catalogue has the special as an L10 model in laquer

The 1977 Olds catalogue has the special as an NL10 model in nickel finish and baked laquer.

I have not seen a silver special, my special is an NL10 model in nickel and laquer.

Expect the laquer on a nickel NL10 to be falling away and leaving a mottled finish where the exposed areas of nickel become dull.

Mine is affected and I dont find it unattractive be aware that it can happen.

I have not seen a silver special.

The nickel NL10 model special is said to play brighter than the standard L10 laquer model due to the nickel coating. My experience is that my NL10 does play slightly brighter than any other trumpet in my collection apart from an ancient peashooter.

Having said that my NL10 is malleable in tone and mouthpiece sensitive.

I have played various mouthpieces in it from a deep vee cornet mouthpiece to a small and shallow bach 20c equivalent and the timbre is mouldable from rich cornet tones all the way to bright mariachi tones.

The valves are exquisite and the tones are full with good core. This is consistent with the reputation that the valve block and the mandrels and brass being the same in all Olds models.

The only difference reputedly in the Olds range were the leadpipes used in different models.

The special is the equal of any horn I have played and if you are happy to select a mouthpiece sympathetic to your repertoir then you will find it an excellent horn that delivers. This must be a personal choice after play testing.

The only caveats I have are the valves are sensitive to parts alignment but run sweet and silent when you get that right, and the horns natural timbre leans towards the brighter end of the spectrum.

The finish is said to be variable in fullerton horns my fullerton horn is superbly finished. This may not be representative of yours.
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Conn 80a Cornet
Boosey & Hawkes Emperor Trumpet
Olds Fullerton Special Trumpet
Selmer Invicta Trumpet
Yamaha YCR 2330II Cornet
Selmer Student Trumpet
Bohland and Fuchs peashooter Trumpet
Boosey and Hawkes Regent Cornet
Lark M4045 Cornet

[James Becker]

[stevericks]

By silver, I assume you mean in color and not silver plated. The 70s Olds Special is nickel plated. Compared to other horns, it tends to play on the bright side. Of the 3 models of Specials- the early, the mid two toned bell, and the later nickel plated, the latter is probably the least valued. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good horn. All Olds horns were built to the same tolerance specs so it is a good playing, quality instrument. Some people label it is an intermediate level horn, but many do not have a problem labeling it as a professional horn. With Olds, intermediate and professional labels are more about a selling point that quality of the horn. the horn plays well.. Hope this helps.
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Steve
Olds, Kanstul, Bach

[american boy]

Owned a Special for a couple of years and enjoyed the horn; Around the same time I purchased a Super,and enjoyed that as well..I would say both played on the slightly tight side,compared to my Bach`s that i`ve played for decades..However, a couple of observations; Both the Super and the Special,which were both from the mid 60`s, were fine instruments, with great pitch..in fact, never felt the need to use the first slide for the normally "Funky" notes to get them in tune..which is a good thing as neither had a saddle.
Both tpts seemed to be very mouthpiece sensitive..put in a nice mid/deep V and both horns felt full, vibrant and perfect for Bebop, Dixie,or whatever you would want..Put in something shallow, and either would respond as a good lead horn..Maybe not as full and balsy as say a Bach or Benge, but cutting for sure; I never used either for pops/orchestra as that would be the Bach`s world, in my estimation.
Anyway,one of my young students needed a "Step up" trumpet, so I sold him the Special, and he loves it.
Oh also a BIG part of getting to know how those trumpets play is to make sure the mouthpiece gap is right, as the Olds mouthpiece receiver is kind of deep or long...I purchased the Harrelson Gap shims and it helped a lot to make the Super feel more centered and compatible with my Warburton Backbore.
As this crazy covid time has turned the music bizz over, I have spent time looking around for Tpts i`ve always wanted to check out but was too busy to go for, and I just purchased an early Elkhart Bach Mercedes which plays nice, and a Selmer K modified, which is really interesting!

[stevericks]

As American Boy points out, the Olds horns were well known for their spot on intonation. Early on I played with a group where the other trumpet players had Strads with the first valve saddle. My Olds Super did not have one and, at the time, it made me feel my horn wasn’t as good as the others. I once asked my private teacher (a known lead guy for big bands who also played a Super) why Olds hadn’t put a saddle on the first valve slide like Bach, especially if it was a pro horn. His answer was “because Olds makes horns that play in tune and Bach doesn’t - it is better than a Bach.” While I am not trying to get into a Bach Olds battle (own 4 Strads and 6 Olds), I have learned over the last 50 years that Olds did a great job of designing many of their horns so needed very little intonation adjustments when playing.
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Steve
Olds, Kanstul, Bach