Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Smith  Recently, the idea of a cornet instead of pocket trumpet was brought up so I started looking around on ebay. There are a number of relatively cheap older cornets. I know nothing about cornets and was wondering what types of older cornets are usually good. I have been looking at an olds ambassador, a few kings, and a Roth Reynolds. If I am going to buy a cornet, I would probably like to go ahead and get one good enough to use in a band if I needed to, but still not spend much. |
I think the general consensus is an Olds Ambassador from the 1950's or 1960's.
Lots of them dirt cheap on ebay, they were very good instruments although made for students.
I tried an Ambassador from the first year they were made, 1948, and it had quite a bit of resistance.
I was told that Olds redesigned the Ambassador so that after 1948 they played better than the 1948 ones.
A serial number list for knowing when an Olds was made:
F. E. Olds and Son Serial Numbers Lars Kirmser's Music Trader - Olds Serial Number List