Olds Trumpet. Your experience

[jbueno]

Hey all! I just came into possession of an Olds Recording, and an Olds Mendez. I love both, and both feel really good. The Mendez lends itself to some brighter overtones, and the Recording lends itself to darker overtones.

Has anyone had any experience playing either of these horns, and what your opinions are? I do mostly lead and commercial work, which makes me want to lean towards the Mendez, but at the same time I love the design of the recording, and the feel of it.
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Jaden Bueno

Olds Recording, 1966
Olds Mendez, 1976
Bach 37
Cannonball Flugel
Yamaha 9830 Picc

[stuartissimo]

My main horn is an Olds Recording. It’s the best horn I’ve ever played. Very versatile, though I agree that it has a slightly more mellow sound. I find it brightens up nicely with a shallow mouthpiece though, without sacrificing too much core in the sound. I have played 1st trumpet in a bigband on it, but I’m an amateur player so I’m not sure if what I do strictly qualifies as ‘lead playing’.

Never played the Mendez, as unfortunately Olds instruments are relatively rare over here in Europe.
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1975 Olds Recording trumpet
1997 Getzen 700SP trumpet
1955 Olds Super cornet
1939 Buescher 280 flugelhorn
AR Resonance mouthpieces

[Brassnose]

I haven’t played many Olds trumpets but have mixed feelings (I know I’ll get yelled at but those are my experiences).

Mendez: played one for at bit at Dillons a few years ago. Put it away because it was incredibly (!) stuffy and sounded strange. Put it away, tried some other horns (fell in love with one of the old, heavily braced Del Quadro horns but didn’t have the cash to buy it), went back to it, still found it stuffy, tried to make it work but just didn’t click with it. Felt much too hard to play for what I got out of it.

Special: played the one of my teacher. Really liked it, open, warm sound, easy to get to speak, good intonation. To me this is more of a jazz or even legit horn, probably would not be my top choice for lead. VERY nice horn.

Studio cornet: currently visiting the house, top technical state as it just came back from an instrument tech who fixed a few things. Great valves, interesting balance. Somewhat stuffy again, so I start wondering if this is at least specific to some Olds horns (yes I use a proper cornet, mp). The sound is quite warm and I like the fact that I have more room for my left hand due to the different wrap. Like a lot of the Olds horns, it looks cool and unique. Unsure if it’s a keeper, though, seems hard to get to really sing.
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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

[kramergfy]

All the Olds can do whatever you want them to with the right mouthpiece. The Recording especially is a very balanced horn through and through. They were popular salsa horn in Cuba for a while, used by Maurice Murphy in the LSO during its prime, and Uan Rasey used a modified version for years in the Hollywood studios. If you dig the ergonomics of it, it doesn't get better.
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"I'm 73 and I'm still learning." - Maurice Murphy

Thread killer.

[jeirvine]

If you can afford to keep both, keep both. (Then add a Super, Special, Studio, ...)

I've owned a few dozen Olds of almost all models, and I wouldn't qualify any as stuffy, as long as they had good compression, proper valve alignment, and good corks. I'm amazed at how many used horns come with felts that had been replaced with the wrong thickness, throwing the vertical alignment off. An easy fix that makes a big difference.
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1932 King Silvertone Artist Bore
1945 Buescher 400
1946 Olds Super
1947 Olds Super Cornet
1948 Couesnon flugelhorn
1951 Olds Special
1956 Martin Committee
1964 Olds Recording
1968 Bach 329 C
1996 Bach 37

[huntman10]

[huntman10]

Accidental duplicate.
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huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[EdMann]

I've been an Olds addict for a while (witness my list of horns which is missing my LA Ambassador). Stuffy doesn't usually apply to Olds, but if there's an alignment issue, you'll feel it. The wartime Supers, of which I own one, has more resistance than most others, easily countered by a larger bbore or drill in the mpc (works fine with resistant mpcs as well)

My old teacher, Tom "Trumpet" Scott, played a Mendez for a large part of his studio career, and sounded wonderful on it. I owned one for a bit, but it was so much like other Olds horns I had, I sold it.

The Recording is IMO one of the best trumpets old or new. It can do anything and I'm looking for another to replace the one I sold.

Good luck out there!

ed
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29 NY Bach 6/6
46 Martin Cmte
61 Bach MV ML
70 Bach 37
73 Bach 43
32 Olds Std
42 Olds Super
54 Olds Rcdg
52 Selmer 24A
30 Holton 48 Lleyw
37 Conn 12B
23 Conn 22B
28 King Lib
46 Conn 80A crnt
1960 & 1868 Besson Flugs
60 King 2B bone

[HERMOKIWI]

I have all the premium Olds trumpets (Super Recording, Recording, Mendez, Super and Opera). The Olds Recording is one of the finest trumpets ever made. Most players love the Olds Recording for its beautiful sound capability, its responsiveness and its ergonomic design. To me it's the best Olds trumpet ever made.

The Mendez especially excels in its slotting, which is as good as it gets.

When someone says that they do "lead and commercial work" that actually encompasses a wide range of description. Some "lead" work doesn't come even close to other "lead "work. Some "commercial" work doesn't come even close to other "commercial" work.

When I think of "lead and commercial work" I think of Wayne Bergeron. I don't know that the Recording or the Mendez would be the best trumpets for what Wayne does, but for the vast majority of players the Recording and Mendez can do anything in lead and commercial work the player has the capability of doing and can do it better and easier than almost any other trumpet.

The Recording and Mendez are extremely high end trumpets and bargains in the "pre-owned" world.
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HERMOKIWI

[jeirvine]

[nieuwguyski]

My late-'50s Recording was my big band lead horn until the valves finally got too worn and finicky. I should have had the valves rebuilt, but I went on a horn safari instead. I'm happy with the trumpet I'm playing now, but a valve rebuild would have been a lot cheaper and I probably would been just as happy.
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J. Notso Nieuwguyski

[Tivolian]

I own a 1959 Recording and a 1958 Mendez. They are both fantastic horns and very different in sound and feel, as others have alluded to. The rich, dark tone of the Recording is unparalleled, and the brilliance of the Mendez is great, so both are keepers. I had a 1955 Super that I also liked a lot but it felt and sounded pretty similar to the Mendez, and wasn’t quite as much to my liking, so I sold it. All of them wonderful horns though.
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Tivolian

[mafields627]

I have a 1964 Recording. It has a nice tone and great valves. It's a very free blowing instrument. However, the fourth partial notes are EXTREMELY flat, to the point that I can't really play it in an ensemble.
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--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[jbueno]

Thanks all! I'm really loving both. I also have an Olds Super and Ambassador. I feel like the Ambassador is the best student horn ever made, and even plays as well as some of the intermediate models out there right now. That one is from 1968. The Super I have is from 1973, which I've heard isn't the best year. Anything from the 60s and earlier are best, right?

I'm hoping to get a Special, Studio and Super Recording eventually.
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Jaden Bueno

Olds Recording, 1966
Olds Mendez, 1976
Bach 37
Cannonball Flugel
Yamaha 9830 Picc