Rescued school surplus horns

[Wrms]

I just joined the forum, i’m not sure that you all will allow me to stay since I am really a trumpet player. I’m also a high school band director. In my small town I am the only wind teacher easily available for private lessons. So even though I am a trumpet player I also play the rest of the brass instruments well enough, I think, to teach lessons.

I have rescued some school surplus trombones. They are in a condition that would be consistent with school abuse. One is an Olds Super (‘52 if I remember correctly). With some rot in the inner slide. There’s lacquer wear of course, and a few bumps and dents but nothing major. It plays really quite well, well enough for me to teach with in the condition that it’s in. If I decided to let this go, is there any value in it in the condition that I describe?

The second one is a Reynolds Contempora model 35, 520 bore f attachment from 1958. Somewhere along the line it has lost its leadpipe. I made a few phone calls to various instrument repair people, and they were concerned about being able to find a .520 pipe that would be suitable.
Do you believe that the horn is worth the hassle of repairing? Where would I find a lead pipe for this trombone?

Third is a superbone that needs major repair,

Thanks for the help,

Mark







Ps Forth is a ................................shh..............Mt Vernon 42

[SwissTbone]

I just joined the forum, i’m not sure that you all will allow me to stay since I am really a trumpet player.

Get out of here!!!

Are you serious about the MV42?

[Wrms]

After teaching for over three decades, I’ve never had a budget that would support the purchase of a pro level trombone, so I’m not sure what was going on when the 42 was purchased. On the occasions that I had an adequate budget I purchased big ticket items like bassoons, Bari saxes, tubas , percussion and the like. BTW, Typing “adequate budget” made me laugh .

On the other hand, maybe it was a student horn that was abandoned at a school. It does happen. Generally it’s a POS of course.

Any help with the .520 pipe for the Reynolds?

[JohnL]

Any help with the .520 pipe for the Reynolds?

I seem to recall John Sandhagen mentioning that there is a lot of meat on a Bach 36 pipe - enough so that it can be turned down to fit smaller bore instruments. IIRC, he mentioned that he had reworked them to fit .500" bore, so .520" should be a breeze. Obviously, it would have to be the older-style soldered-in small shank pipe.

Another option would be to shim a smaller pipe and expand the end over a conical mandrel.

[Wrms]

Thanks for the info John, it’s gives a path to explore.

[djkennedy]

the reynolds may just need a slightly larger shank mpc
=============
olds super ///use as is unless super clean //inners unavaliable ---use ambassador slide or tubes

[Wrms]

Dj, thanks for that. I do have a ambassador slide in good shape. My local shop was not comfortable sonic cleaning the super slide, they thought that it might cause some damage. And they won’t use the caustic chemicals from the old days. The slide looks like garbage but plays OK. Having the ambassador slide as a back up is a good thing.

My trombone and euphonium playing friends brought bags of mouthpieces (they’re as bad as trumpet players in that regard) of various kinds from vintage, modern, British, bass and so on, and none of them fit the Reynolds.
I looked down the receiver and saw .......... a hole , i’m not sure how to tell if there’s a lead pipe there.

[BGuttman]

Best way to tell there's a leadpipe is to feel the inside of the upper inner. You can use a crochet hook or something that has a bend at the end. A borescope is even better. There should be a taper to a minimal size and then a jump of some sort. If you can't feel it there could be no leadpipe.

Also, if the mouthpieces seem to wobble even though they fit to the hole there is no tapered element in there.

[Wrms]

I’ll take another look with a hooky think in hand.

Mark

[Posaunus]

The Reynolds Contempora trombones are actually good, well-built, sturdy instruments. You may actually have the original Reynolds leadpipe, which has an "oversize" mouthpiece receiver, so that standard small-shank mouthpieces will drop in much farther than normal. On my Reynolds 1958 Contempora 35 (0.520" bore with F-attachment), I cannot use many mouthpieces with exterior "ridges" below the cup, such as Bach, Schilke, Curry, etc. because they drop in nearly to the ridges so may not seat securely and wobble. Original Reynolds mouthpieces fit perfectly, but their throats tend to be rather small for my taste. Mouthpieces which work pretty well for me include the Denis Wick classics (e.g., 6BS, 5BS, 4BS), an old Conn 3, and a Josef Klier 7C.

Determining whether you have a leadpipe is actually pretty easy: If the inner slides have not been cleaned, gently run an appropriate swab [e.g., an HWP Brass-Saver (soft pull-through brush with a long plastic lead ribbon) or a rigid cleaning rod wrapped with a strip of cotton cloth] though the upper inner slide until it shines like a mirror. The simply look through the downstream end of the slide toward the mouthpiece end. If the leadpipe is intact, you'll see the dark circle of its downstream end about 3/4 of the way down.

[Wrms]

The way you describe a conventional mouthpiece fit, seems very familiar. I will try the slide polish trick. Thanks for the help.