Reynolds Trumpets

[airlite66]

My father , a life long trumpeter, has among his horns a Reynolds. He maintains that Reynolds was a respected, well made horn. Weren't they a subsidiary of a larger "parent" company? Anyone have any opinions on Reynolds? Also, when I first joined TH,I accidentally happened upon a post listing all the major and minor trumpet makes. Now I can't find it. Does anyone know which forum it's under?

[tom turner]

Foster Reynolds was one of the hottest, most respected young horn makers when first employed by the then top-flight J. W. York company in the mid-1890's. I won't go into as much detail now, for I need to practice, but I've written about this before. Do a search in the vintage forum and/or on the trumpetmaster.com site's vintage horns forum (that I moderate there) to learn J. W. York's tutors . . . they go back to the finest makers . . . back to 1824!!!

FORWARD TO FOSTER REYNOLDS . . .

In the 1910's, if memory serves me correctly, Foster was hired by H. N. White . . . maker of those extraordinary early 1900's King trombones. Foster made those awesome early King cornets that, in design and quality, made King a top maker of cornets and trumpets too . . . not just famous anymore for great trombones!

Mr. Reynolds finally started his own company . . . and his Reynolds cornets . . . errrr . . . looked like Kings for some reason!!! He also was good friends with the leaders of the F. E. Olds company and they worked together on projects. Eventually he sold his company and . . . as an aging guru . . . was hired by Olds after WWII to run the Olds plant!!!!

Today, the tradition passed to J. W. York while working with the Boston Musical Instrument Company (from the pioneer superhorn makers E. G. Wright and Samuel Graves) . . . that was passed on to Foster Reynolds . . . remains unbroken even today after 180 years! A young Zig Kanstul learned the craft from the aging Foster Reynolds at the Olds factory in the 1950's! Like Foster, J. W. York, Samuel Graves and E. G. Wright before them, Mr. Kanstul still blazes a trail of horn making excellence!

THE HORNS OF THE REYNOLDS COMPANY . . .

Reynolds was NEVER a huge company like Olds or King. He was under-capitalized and never desired to be a giant. His horns were very good . . . and his best cornets and trumpets . . . the top-of-the-line Contempora and the slightly cheaper nickle-silver Argenta models were fabulous instruments. In my opinion they were comparable to the much more common and well-known Olds Recording, Super and Opera models . . . just less were made.

I currently own a really nice 1961 Reynolds Argenta . . . made just three years before Norlin bought out the Olds/Reynolds company and ruining it . . . ceasing production of much inferior horns just a decade or so later.

I started playing in '61, and after playing a new Argenta (basically a Contempora but in nickle-silver vs. yellow brass and with only the 1st valve trigger vs. both 1st and 3rd triggers) I always wanted one but they were out of my family's means.

I only finally got my "new" Argenta about three years ago after a long search on e-bay. It did not disappoint. It had that easy upper register and rich premium Reynolds sound that I'd remembered so fondly sooooo long ago. The workmanship was something not seen today . . . individual serial numbered little parts and a high attention to detail and finish.

Their cheapest student horn was the Medalist with the student Emperor a much better choice (my family bought me a used Emperor to play in high school).

Several other models graced the middle of the Reynolds line at times through the years, including the "Hi-Fi" version in the '50s.

Through the latter years of the Olds and Reynolds companies the horns were made on the same assembly line and eventually little was different between the horns except for trim pieces to make 'em look "different."

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions. I'll try to answer them.

Sincerely,

Tom Turner

Darn, I shouldn't have written so much . . . now the prices will shoot up on e-bay like the Olds horns have been doing . . . plus . . . I've STILL gotta practice! See ya!

[ This Message was edited by: tom turner on 2004-01-27 22:17 ]

[nacog]

one more note on reynolds is the professional model, that as far as I can tell was in production the entire run of the old reynolds company (1936 to 1979). I have a very nice sterling silver bell model that was made during the first year of the reynolds company and it is a nicer player than the '36 strad that I used to have. The contemporas are very nice horns that don't come up terribly often on ebay and the argenta's seem to be very rare.
I have heard some say that the medalist was as good as the olds ambassador, which is generally considered to be the best student horn ever. I think reynolds are wonderful instruments that are really undervalued at this time. Just my 2 cents.

[tom turner]

Great post!

Yes the Argentas ARE quite rare, simply because they were made near the end of the Reynolds run . . . probably not starting production on this horn until the late 50's. Reynolds made the nickle-silver Argentas in other instruments too, like the trombones.

Sincerely,

Tom Turner

[Ash]

When did Foster leave King?
_________________
1975 Raw Brass Bach Strad 37
1927 King Cleveland Cornet

[tom turner]

Foster A. Reynolds left York in 1904 to become the Vice President and General Manager of the H. N. White Company in Cleveland.

Thirty years later, he left to start his own small company, "Reynolds," and devoted a lot of time and research doing experiments to improve the instruments of the day.

Rare are the manufacturers, past or present, who continue to experiment and lessen the inherent "flaws" in their successful production horns. Once they get a commercially successful instrument designed it usually is only changed in ways to either speed up production or lessen labor or materials costs. Foster wanted to get away from the big company and do things HIS way . . . and that meant to continue to experiment and find ways to make the horns sound and play better . . . and have more uniform response and scale.

He made really big improvements to the tubas, french horns, baritone horns and other harmony brass instruments starting in the '30s and, of course, made the fine upper brass instruments that we all love. The lower brass and harmony brass instruments had not seen the innovations by the 1930s in performance that the picky cornet soloists of the era had brought onto the upper brass instruments. (Us trumpet players are a picky, fussy group) Foster extended that same quality downward.

Tom

[nacog]

As a collector of old reynolds horns I am always interested in finding out more about foster reynolds. My question is when did foster reynolds retire for good from the olds company?
I know he sold his company to Roth in 1947 and shortly thereafter went to olds and promptly designed the ambassador and many of the other great olds horns and apparently he was still around when zig kanstul came to work in 1953 or so but I have never heard when he left. By my calculations foster must have been about 75 or so when he started working for olds. an amazing individual.

[TheFabulousFatman]

Mr. Reynolds died in his office at the Olds Fullerton plant on July 18, 1960 at the age of 76. The story goes he had just let someone go and it wasn't pleasant. It was then that his apprentice/right hand man Zig Kanstul took over running the plant until he left to run the Benge plant in Los Angeles after Norlin took control of F.E. Olds.

[Subtropical and Subpar]

I have among the two rarest of Reynolds trumpets, an Argenta and a Contempora in the key of C with the triggerable tuning slide. The Argenta trumpet is fine and fun and sounds almost as much like a cornet as a trumpet with a B cup mouthpiece in it, but it could probably use some valve work. Not the most agile of horns in my quiver. Then again, I found it as a "parts" horn and had no more work done to it than a small patch where something had nicked a small opening in the tuning slide.

The Contempora, on the other hand... what a beauty. Plays exceedingly well, the valves are fast, and the triggerable bell thing actually works and is quite convenient. It's a shockingly good horn for the money, which in my case was roughly what one would pay for a mainland China-manufactured modern C trumpet that has been fettled on by some of the retailers we all know who fettle on such horns to sell them as house brands.

The really fascinating thing to me is that the Argenta and Contempora seem to have different valve blocks, I think. At the very least, the throw on the Contempora is maybe 2/3 the distance as on the Argenta. The Contempora has the shortest throw of any valves I've seen on any trumpet-family horn in my life.
_________________
1932 King Silvertone cornet
1936 King Liberty No. 2 trumpet
1958 Reynolds Contempora 44-M "Renascence" C
1962 Reynolds Argenta LB trumpet
1965 Conn 38A
1995 Bach LR18072
2003 Kanstul 991
2011 Schilke P5-4 B/G
2021 Manchester Brass flugel

[kehaulani]

If part of the original question was the quality of Reynolds horns, FWIW, I had a Reynolds French Horn in the '70s that was very good. Just a step below a Conn 8D. Played it professionally.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"Well, even if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn't play like Wynton." Chet Baker

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Selmer K-Modified Light Trumpet (for sale)
Benge 3X Cornet

[GeorgeB]

One of the professional players in our band happens to play a Reynolds Contempora. It is a beauty and he gets a great sound on it when doing solos. I had a chance to buy one from ACB 3 or 4 years ago but someone beat me to it before I could put the order in.
George
_________________
GeorgeB
1960s King Super 20 Silversonic
2016 Manchester Brass Custom
1938-39 Olds Recording
1942 Buescher 400 Bb trumpet
1952 Selmer Paris 21 B
1999 Conn Vintage One B flat trumpet
2020 Getzen 490 Bb
1962 Conn Victor 5A cornet

[Brassnose]

I just missed a Contempora cornet a few weeks ago and then a Conn 6B for 250 EUR (!!!). Talk about someone else being lucky. But this thread has really triggered my interest in Reynolds horns, so I’ll keep watching, I guess.
_________________
2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier

[Subtropical and Subpar]

As the last two posters expressed interest in Contemporas, I do believe someone on TH posted one on the marketplace in the last week for a pretty appealing price.
_________________
1932 King Silvertone cornet
1936 King Liberty No. 2 trumpet
1958 Reynolds Contempora 44-M "Renascence" C
1962 Reynolds Argenta LB trumpet
1965 Conn 38A
1995 Bach LR18072
2003 Kanstul 991
2011 Schilke P5-4 B/G
2021 Manchester Brass flugel

[jeirvine]

[Irving]

IMO the Argenta has been over hyped on this forum. I had two of them (Abilene) and they weren't anything special. They were OK as far as an intermediate horn goes, but that is the best compliment that I can make. These horns were made to be played at A=440, so if you need to play offstage, or in Europe, or in Europe off stage, this horn will not play up to pitch. I also have a Reynolds (Cleveland) Professional cornet. Again, nothing special. Good for a student, since it is built like a tank.

[Halflip]

[TheFabulousFatman]

IMHO I would agree that Abilene could be the problem. Production began there after CMI took over and began to look at ways to keep production costs down. It was the beginning of the end, really - the Olds company built their reputation on making a quality product and had people in place who shared their values and philosophies when it came to making instruments. Foster Reynolds was one of those people, along with Reg Olds and Zig Kanstul. They were demanding bosses as well as craftsman who ended up producing some of the finest brass instruments of any manufacturer, domestic or otherwise, instruments that are still coveted today.
I just purchased a late 1930's Reynolds Bb trumpet serial no. just under 4000. Silver plated in beautiful condition with lovely engraving on the bell. It's on it's way and should be here in a couple of days - I'm pretty excited to see how it sounds....

[kurth83]

My dad (also a trumpet player) had two Reynolds Bb's from his childhood, they probably date from the late 40's to mid 50's. I played on one in high school. By modern standards they were a bit stuffy (felt like ML bore but labelled L), and not particularly efficient, but the valves were excellent, and intonation was fine, and all these years later they still play the same.

My Dad studied with a Mr. Ruby (played in the Cleveland Symphony at the time), and he also played a Reynolds and recommended them to his students.

I have no idea what models they are however. We have my great grandfather's horn too, and I don't know what it is.

[Subtropical and Subpar]