Originally Posted by gzent

If you oil the valve and its still sticking then you need to take it to
a brass repair shop. Any number of things could be causing it to stick.

Originally Posted by operagost

Is there corrosion on the piston? The piston shouldn't have any black or green on it (a little inside the ports is acceptable). Clean it and the valve casing (with just plain water, or maybe just a few drops of dish soap), rinse them, and reoil the valves. If it gets no better, then you probably have a dent in the valve casing. You won't be able to fix it, but a brass repair shop will.

BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO BANG YOUR PISTONS OR VALVE CASINGS ON ANYTHING!

The seller claimed that all the valves move smoothly, so you may wish to take it up with him.

The fact that the 2nd valve is higher than the others is probably due to missing cork inside the valve. This is not serious, and replacement cork is available. However, the horn will play very stuffy until you fix it.

Originally Posted by MFfan

Try soaking the stuck slides in WD 40 or some penetrating oil for several hours at the joint.That may do the trick in loosening them. You might need to be quite patient. There are a number of threads on the subject if you use the "Search" feature. Good luck.

Originally Posted by jonathan.pranoto

Hello All...
a few weeks ago i just won a bid of olds ambassador 1960's on ebay
and i just received that horn today...that's my first horn...so i really need your advice...

Originally Posted by ComeBackKid

First of all, congratulations on your first trumpet. It does appear that there are a couple of issues with this trumpet but the good news is that it is an Ambassador. They are built like tanks. I have 9 of them and most were in worse shape than yours when I received them but every one plays great now after only minor work. So, don't become discouraged. I think you will be fine. At the bottom, I will describe some things to do to help make this a good playing horn for you. A couple of mine are very near your serial number and this is a great vintage of the Olds trumpets so you should be happy once it is all fixed.


As the others mentioned, this may be simply the fact that the piston is gummy and sticky and that a good cleaning will help. I will describe this more below.


Based on the description in the ebay listing, I would guess that all of the corks and felts need to be replaced. That will help the overall condition immensely. If there is a repair shop near you, they can do it and it is not generally expensive - maybe $25 here in the US. If you want to do it yourself, there are sellers on ebay who offer complete kits with all of the needed parts. It does require disassembling the valves but no tools are needed - it can all be done by hand so you should be able to figure it out. By the way, if you decide to order the parts, be sure to order a cleaning kit as well. It should have a "snake" brush for cleaning out the pipes as well as a larger brush for the valve casings plus oil and slide grease. These will be important for the cleaning operation and based on what you are seeing, it looks like this horn needs a cleaning more than just about anything else.


OK - there is a difference between "move freely" and "totally stuck". If the slides will move at all, pull them all out (gently - don't bend anything). You will find that the inner slide pipes are gooey with old slide grease. Cleaning them will help.

Also, based on the photos, it appears that the lacquer is gone from the brass. This is typical of the Olds horns. They were built very strong but the lacquer was not as strong and almost all of them have most or all lacquer gone by now. So, here is the best way to do this: (read through this first and make sure you have all of the materials that are mentioned before you start).

1. Locate a plastic (not metal!) tub or pan that is large enough to hold the trumpet.
2. Disassemble the trumpet - remove all slides and valves, including the bottom caps - set the valves aside.
3. Wrap the trumpet body and the slides loosely in aluminum foil - it does not need to cover every tiny corner - just the main sections.
4. Fill the plastic tub with boiling water - high enough so that the trumpet is totally covered with water. Add about a cup of powered laundry detergent or pre-soak compound and a half-cup of salt to the water.
5. Carefully (hot water!) place the foil-wrapped trumpet and slides (not the valves) into the tub so they are all covered by the water.
6. Leave them for a couple of hours. During this time, you will see tiny bubbles rising from the trumpet in the water. This is due to the chemical reaction that is cleaning the trumpet.
7. When the water has cooled to the point that you can put your hands in, take a sponge or stiff cleaning cloth and a brush and go over the trumpet and slides scrubbing and wiping as much as you can. If you have the snake brush, run it through all of the pipes over and over to clean it all out.
8. Remove the items from the water and thoroughly rinse all parts inside and out with clear water and then dry all of the parts. Take a lint-free cloth and gently push it through the valve casings and pull it back-and-forth to make sure the insides of the casings are clean and dry.
9. Take some automotive cleaner/wax (from an auto parts store) and a clean cloth and use it to polish the surface. You will be amazed at how shiny it will become. Also, focus on the slide pipes to clean of the tarnished/dark areas which will help them work better.
10. Wash and clean the valve pistons in warm water and mild dish soap.
11. Oil the pistons and grease the slide pipes. Then reassemble the trumpet.

Hopefully this will resolve all of the movement issues. There is still the matter of the corks and felts that will make all of the valves line up. If you decide to do this cleaning process first, you may still find that it does not play perfectly until the valves are all the same.

But, the cleaning step is important because it will determine if there is anything else wrong with the valves or slides. If these steps do not make them work smoothly, then the seller misrepresented the trumpet. Even though the listing says "AS-IS" and "NO RETURNS", that does not mean that the seller can send you junk. If the trumpet still does not work right, then do the following.

1. Send a message to the seller describing the problems with the trumpet as compared to the description. Remember that the seller is not an expert on trumpets so do not accuse him of lying to you and DO NOT THREATEN TO LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK! (this is important. if you need to file an ebay claim, a threat will be viewed as blackmail and you will lose your claim). Just calmly state that the trumpet was not as represented in the listing.
2. State that the cost of shipping the trumpet back and forth is more than the value of the trumpet so you are not asking to return it (unless it is not repairable) but are asking for an adjustment on the price based on the cost to repair it.
3. If they do not respond, repeat the request 2 more times, each time stating that if you do not receive a response, you will file a claim with ebay.
4. If they still do not respond, file a claim with ebay and let them know that the item was misrepresented and that the seller has refused to respond to you. Let them know that you are requesting a full refund of the amount you paid.
5. Ebay will contact the seller. Then the seller will respond for sure.
6. Tell the seller that it is not cost effective to return the trumpet due to shipping costs and that you just want an adjustment in the price.

I have done this with 3 of the trumpets I purchases and every one of the sellers has been willing to issue a full or partial refund via paypal to cover the problems that were not mentioned in the listing.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your first trumpet. I'm sure it will work out for you.