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Hi All,

A band director colleague that plays Eb bass behind me in brass band asked me about Olds Euphoniums. He's got a limited budget and can afford to get two brand new Olds or one Besson Sovereign. The Olds is a 4 valve model.

Here is the firm's website:

http://www.feolds.com/

Although at first glance it might appear that these are the same made in the USA instruments that became famous, I remember reading somewhere (Tubenet perhaps?) that these are actually stencil horns. Does anyone know where these came from? If they are Czech made, they may not be bad.

And no, he is not allowed to buy a Yammie 321 or a Weril. These are the only two euphs he can get.

Anyone?

I understand that these are actually Amatis.

http://www.amati.cz/english/production/ ... oniums.htm

It's interesting that the photos on the Olds web site appear to be mirrored.

I don't know if they are Amati's, but they're definitely stencil. I'm wondering if they come from the same Chinese factory that sources some of Yamaha's parts?

Possibly Korean (the same company that makes trumpets for the J.C. Penney catalog).

I hate it when they use a good name like F.E. Olds or Reynolds like that. I remember when Reynolds was making some excellent recording basses. The ads showed Al G. Wright and his tuba players at Purdue University and, before they got a set of Mirafones, William Revelli and his tuba section from the University of Michigan.

It probably is not Amati. I compared specs of Amati to Olds, and Amati's horns have 16.2 mm bores (.638, nominally .640)and either a 350 (nominally 14 inches) or 400 mm (nominally 15 3/4 inches) bell. Olds' NO97 is a .645 bore with a 14 inch bell, which is possibly theirs, but the pictures do not look similar, and the NO98 is a .670 bore with a 15 inch bell, which is not something Amati makes, and the NO321 is a .728 bore with a 17 1/2 inch bell and 4 valves, which sounds very Yamaha to me. Just some numbers to consider.

Oops! He did say euph, didn't he. Oh, well....

Why can't he get a yamaha/weril?

He can only spend his allotted funds from this one supplier. And the only 4 valve euphs he had to chose from was the Olds or the Besson 967. He'll either buy two Olds or one Besson.

He also has the chance to order King 3 valve euphs.

What would you guys do? My first instinct is to say go for the Besson, but they certainly aren't known for good quality control. But if these Olds are Chinese, I'd bet even bad Besson would be better.

At least the Kings should be somewhat decent right? Perhaps that is the best bet overall. I mean, the county I live in should be wealthy enough that if a student were truly serious, I'd bet at least 70% of parents would buy them a decent axe of their own. With that in mind, what do you think? I'm leaning towards the 3 valved Kings.

And if something does go wrong with the King instruments, at least the main elements of the Cyborg are here in the US that can be infiltrated if necessary.

A Weril is approx. $1,250 ( silver finish ) . How can the olds be any cheaper ?

my hunch is jupiter, which would not be too bad. Is it possible to get one to try first?
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