| The Recording is your best bet IMHO.
The Special is a very open horn and I find it tends to be a bit bright. If you are looking at a Special, the rose brass bell is the bell flare only - the rest will be nickel silver unless it's a really old one, in which case the bell will be all yellow brass.
The Recording has a heavy weight bell that is entirely rose brass. It has a little more resistance than the Special (i.e., I find it to be more middle of the road in terms of resistance and the Special to be very much towards the very free-blowing end of the spectrum). I find either horn to be very quickly responsive.
Olds moved to Fullerton in 1955 so the Recording you are considering would indeed be a Los Angeles product.
I'm playing a Recording as my main horn. It took me a few days to get used to the feel but now I can't put it down.
Good Luck!
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Dave M.
Richmond Hill (Toronto), Ontario, CANADA
Kanstul WB1600
1952 L.A. Olds Recording, 1975 L.A. Benge 3x, Yamaha 631 Flugel, Olds Flugel
GR 65.6 Mouthpieces |