MUSICandCHARACTER

I actually bought a Conn 88H trombone on eBay. Nobody wanted it because it had been silver plated and in the process the serial number was unreadable. Nobody wanted a famed Conn 88H made in Abilene! So I bought it figuring is was a good price and who knew?

When the horn arrived, it was in great condition. The slide needed a little work -- OK. But it played nice. I put the horn in my ProTec gig bag and stored the original case. Some months later I went through the original case. Suprise, there was a record of what was done when the horn was plated in 1993 and the serial number. Low and behold, it was an Elkhart. That piece of paper made me almost a $1000 when I sold the trombone (I am playing a ZeuS BTW )

You never know sometimes.

M&C

JamesEarleStewartJr

No, I don't have any more clues than anyone else does. I just have conjecture and opinion. Personally I think it's exactly what my brother thinks his interesting new horn is: an Olds Recording with a solid nickel silver bell special ordered by some Navy band somewhere. Since Navy bandsmen usually wear white uniforms when performing, having them playing nickel silver instruments would look very sharp, much snazzier than all brass instruments. My guess is the band director who ordered the horns had a thing for Olds Recording instruments but didn't feel that having a third valve slide trigger was as useful as the first valve slide trigger. But like you said, who the hell really knows? Who can know except the person who originally ordered the horn(s)? Actually, all I was commenting on before was how much these discussions end up diverging from the original topic. No offense meant.

tonidimitri

hi,
well i saw 1 of these recordings selling on ebay about a month ago. it had a
1st trigger but no 3rd and the bell was nickel plated and had USN stamped on it. when i emailed him and asked him what the go was, he said he was selling it for his father who had the horn purchased for him by the US navy whilst working for them. all the horns where ordered the same so if anything was to happen to them they would know who they belonged to had it ever crossed paths again. so im guessing theres only a certain amount going around..

A.N.A. Mendez

I have a horn with this bell installed, never could figure out why a recording bell would have a nickel finish. Now I at least know they made bells this way, I assume this horn was sent to the factory for a new bell in the 60s or a repair tech somewhere else called Olds and said "I need a recording bell, whatayagot"? Who knows.....Of course the real heartbreaker is this horn isn't just a recording, it's a .............You can guess.....

tonidimitri

haha...
a.n.a mendez the suspense is killing me ...