junglej

So I'm a Horn (as in French) player with a granddaughter who plays an early 60's Olds Ambassador as a sophomore in high school. The horn is in good shape except for 3rd slide not moving very freely - and of course the missing lacquer. She plays the horn quite well and aspires to playing better, but music isn't her only interest (softball and basketball too). I got her the Olds originally when I was teaching her to play 5 or 6 years ago. Now we're wondering if there would really be much of a step up from the Ambassador without going all the way to the Strad or Xeno class of horns. I was thinking of looking for a Holton T101. I guess I'm just wondering where a decent quality Ambassador is likely to fall in the scale of fair to great playing instruments.
Thanks - and make a super day!
Jim

Ursa

The Ambassador is a very good student trumpet and many would argue that it's just as good as many step-up/intermediate level instruments. If your granddaughter isn't going to continue her music education in college, an Ambassador could be all the trumpet she'll ever really need.

An alternative to a new trumpet would be to have the Ambassador put back into top playing condition. With the sticking 3rd valve slide, the horn is not functioning as it should--and there may be other maintenance and/or playability issues that you're not aware of.

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Besson BE709 Trumpet
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E. K. Blessing XL-CR Short Cornet
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Frank Holton Collegiate Cornet
Yamaha YEP-321S Euphonium
Frank Holton 6/4 EEb Tuba

trumpetnick

I am with Ursa on this one. Unless you wanna spent some serious bucks and get a pro level instrument there is no point of upgrading with the so called "intermediate" instruments. Olds trumpets generally have good valves and built like tank - though the lacquer mayt go off with the years it is built to last and you are not likely to have any particular problems if maintained properly. As for the loose slide - You can either use a thicker slide grease or get to it repairman for expanding the inner tubes.

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Spada Bach C 256, leadpipe 2LQ/DWMM1.5C
1956 Olds Ambassador Cornet
Spada Custom Piccolo

If you don't know where you are going, you 'll end up someplace else

gzent

I'll third that. An Ambassador, in good playing condition, is certainly enough horn for the job.

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junglej

Thanks all - Don't we all tend to like answers that agree with us? I was going to talk to her about taking the horn to a good repairman over the Dec holidays to have it thoroughly gone through and third slide worked on.
Jim

veery715

Not only agreeable answers do we like - wait until you find out how little it will cost to make significant improvements to that Olds!

veery

Schwab

The Holton T101 is on par with a Bach or Yamaha Xeno. If you can find one cheap, it would be well worth the purchase.

Matt Muckey (NY Phil) plays (or played) one, another guy who plays around town bought one (for $250) because his last name is Holton (he was all excited when he got it and kept saying "Holton on Holton!!!) and ended up preferring it to his 37.

That said, the Ambassador is also a great horn and will probably take your granddaughter as far as college.

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Dylan Schwab
Stage 1 New York

Dale Proctor

If you're thinking of keeping the Olds and having it relacquered, a common mod is to replace the leadpipe with either a Pilczuk or Bach 43 model. It will make the horn play easier and more open. A fairly cheap mod that really improves the horn.

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Mamba21500

Take her to a music shop, and get her to try out some more expensive horns, intermediate and pro, if she feels that it does make a huge difference, you should invest, if not, don't bother, she might not be ready for a pro horn, I know I wasn't after play for 6 years.

I haven't played the olds or holton, but if the Holton is like any intermediate horn I've played, the difference won't be much.

If you're going to go for a pro horn though, I wouldn't go for a xeno, sound quality is far more important then range, and I find the xeno doesn't have the sound quality of a strad.

I recently tried out a good few horns, and did a review here:
http://www.TrumpetMaster.com/vb/f131...pet-50185.html (My search for a trumpet)

JDay

I also agree that with a little bit of work and a few somewhat inexpensive upgrades, an Ambassador can be a great horn. (The one thing I would have checked before putting much money into it is the valve compression.)

The Bach 43 Leadpipe is great (my preference), but a Bach 25 or Bach 25-O can also be good choices depending on the player.

Getting the 3rd slide working properly is also a very good idea. That should be a quick fix for a good tech. One thing I have found is that once the slide is working properly it can 'fall' off of the horn at very bad times. In the case of High School use Marching Band comes to mind.

Many Ambassadors came with a built in 3rd slide stop. The top tube of the 3rd slide on the trumpets were flaired out, and the 3rd finger ring on the slide itself had a post on the bottom that would catch and prevent the slide from acciedentally falling off the trumpet:





Sorry about the size of the photo, it was one of the few I could find that I could link to.

If the trumpet has the flaired out tube, but not the post on the finger ring, then you can simply slip a small O-ring over the 3rd slide ring and push it back to where it just touches the ring itself. This would also help to catch the flair and prevent the slide from falling off.

If the horn is old enough it may not even have the flair. In that case a 3rd slide stop rod could be added (Like that on a Bach Strad) or my favorite solution: Use an elastic hair band and tie it around the 3rd slide tube braces. Lots of color choices, and helps with the slide return.

I can email you additional photos if desired.

Cheers! Jack