Olds Tubas - lineage question

[SousaSaver]

Does anyone know who makes Tubas for Olds now? I have a hypothesis about who makes the rotary model, but I am not 100% sure.

[SousaSaver]

I think maybe Cerveny? The spec is wrong though...

[Dan Schultz]

I think I saw a couple of years ago where Olds offered a 'lifetime warranty'. I had a brochure and called the US sales office in New Jersey (I think) and the sales guy got so irritated at my questions about warranty and parts that he hung up on me.

[imperialbari]

Some 15 or 20 years ago the Olds name was associated with a Dutch maker, Schenkelaars, which 30 years earlier had been a main supplier for the then new wave of Danish brass bands not able to afford British instruments until some years later. Apparently the market did not respond well to that marketing scheme for the Olds brand.

And now they are associated with the Czechs. With all due respect to both American and Czech instruments (I own several samples of each species), but I see no purpose in putting the name of a defunct American brand on instruments which not even try to emulate American designs. At least not at levels where players are supposed to know what they are buying.

klaus

[The Big Ben]

I've seen new trumpets being sold as "Olds" without any of the traditional Olds styling cues- mouthpiece receiver, bell cranze on selected horns, trombone style water keys on trumpets and others. I would think that most of the buyers of these student quality horns would even know what an Olds trumpet was.

Did F.E. Olds (Fullerton or LA) ever make a tuba with rotary valves?

Jeff "Certainly glad for owning a 099-4 BBb" Benedict

[The Big Ben]

I think I saw a couple of years ago where Olds offered a 'lifetime warranty'. I had a brochure and called the US sales office in New Jersey (I think) and the sales guy got so irritated at my questions about warranty and parts that he hung up on me.

S'pose it's like the kid who put a sign "All you can drink" on his lemonade stand. Guy buys a glass, drinks it, asks for another, kid says no. Guy says, "The sign says "All you can drink". Kid says, "Yes. One is all you can drink."

"Lifetime warrantee" means, "Ii's warranteed until it wears out. That's its lifetime."

Jeff "The jokes get worse as time goes on" Benedict

[tuba-tobias]

This question was discussed 11 months ago also:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37082" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

[The Big Ben]

This question was discussed 11 months ago also:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37082" target="_blank"

And I posted the same thing, too. GHettin' a little senile and the jokes are gettin' old...

[SousaSaver]

I've seen new trumpets being sold as "Olds" without any of the traditional Olds styling cues- mouthpiece receiver, bell cranze on selected horns, trombone style water keys on trumpets and others. I would think that most of the buyers of these student quality horns would even know what an Olds trumpet was.

Did F.E. Olds (Fullerton or LA) ever make a tuba with rotary valves?

Jeff "Certainly glad for owning a 099-4 BBb" Benedict

As far as I know - No. The 099 was about it.

[SousaSaver]

I think I saw a couple of years ago where Olds offered a 'lifetime warranty'. I had a brochure and called the US sales office in New Jersey (I think) and the sales guy got so irritated at my questions about warranty and parts that he hung up on me.

That CANNOT be good...

[SousaSaver]

Here is what I know about Olds -

- The name was sold and they have moved manufacturing around a bit.
- Some of the Olds products are made in Brazil. These are good student Euphs.
- Klaus is right about Schenkelaars. They where making Olds labeled Euphs. Schenkelaars was then bought out by Adams. These are good horns in my opinion. I spoke to Miel at Adams a few weeks ago about a replacement mouthpipe for an Olds Euph. Long story short, that part is currently unavailable.
- Current Olds rotary Tubas are made in Czech. So I assume Cerveny.

[sloan]

olds.jpg

[Dan Schultz]

olds.jpg

OMG! Is that yours? Send me the plans for the spoiler! I need one on my Olds!

[sloan]

olds.jpg

OMG! Is that yours? Send me the plans for the spoiler! I need one on my Olds!

Not mine - but we used to own a look-alike (inherited from my wife's father, used by both sons). We
donated it to charity when the next (required) repair bill was greater than the Blue Book value. I don't remember
where I found the picture.

[Uncle Markie]

Regarding Olds tubas -
I owned an 0-99 back in the late 1960s; traded it for a four-valve horn. Good enough to start with, for sure.
Olds made only two tuba models that were truly "Olds" instruments, manufactured in Fullerton, CA. In addition to the 0-99 and the four-valve version of the 0-99, they made a three-valve bell front recording bass tuba - very much like the Reynolds tuba of the day, but unique to Olds. I tested one back in the 1970s, when Olds was being bought by Norlin (which went out of business and killed the Olds brand). I didn't like the 90-degree angle of the bell, their upright bell was an afterthought and made the horn unbalanced as hell to hold and play, and the intonation was squirelly - I remember the high Bb required either 1st valve or 2-3 to get in tune; a pain in the butt.
Selmer bought the tooling for the 0-99 and it lived on for a while as a "Bach" tuba. Olds' most profitable line was the Ambassador line of trumpets, cornets, trombones and baritone horns - all of which were very good instruments. The 0-99 tubas were supposed to fit into that market - a lightweight tuba with a decent core of sound that played pretty well in tune to itself.
The Olds line lives on today as a stencil of imported instruments - I can't speak to the quality other than a really bad baritone horn a kid brought in to take lessons on a couple of years ago.
Zig Kanstul was the factory manager in the heyday of Olds - and FA Reynolds did a lot of their designs. Between them, they came up with arguably the best line of student horns ever made. Ambassadors were playable, durable and affordable. Pro-line Olds horns (Mendez cornet & trumpet, and their trombones) go for top dollar on Ebay these days for good reason - they play well and sound great, too.
The idea of middle school kids and rotary valves horrifies me.
As a professional for many years I owned exactly ONE rotary valve tuba; everything else was pistons - Kings, Conns, Martin, etc. I could always rag out a sticking piston valve between sets or shows; with rotaries you needed an assortment of jeweler's screwdrivers, fishing line (before the model ariplane parts starting appearing on linkages) etc.
Fads come and go, but most of the best horns were made in Elkhart, Elkhorn, Cleveland or Grand Rapids - and maybe Fullerton

Mark Heter

[pittbassdaddy]

olds.jpg

Interestingly enough, the car above is not an olds, but a Chevy Celebrity, you can tell the difference by the disgustingly square trunk lid and the badge in front of the front wheel, as opposed to behind and above where the Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra located them.

[normrowe]

Regarding Olds tubas -
I owned an 0-99 back in the late 1960s; traded it for a four-valve horn. Good enough to start with, for sure.
Olds made only two tuba models that were truly "Olds" instruments, manufactured in Fullerton, CA. In addition to the 0-99 and the four-valve version of the 0-99, they made a three-valve bell front recording bass tuba - very much like the Reynolds tuba of the day, but unique to Olds. I tested one back in the 1970s, when Olds was being bought by Norlin (which went out of business and killed the Olds brand). I didn't like the 90-degree angle of the bell, their upright bell was an afterthought and made the horn unbalanced as hell to hold and play, and the intonation was squirelly - I remember the high Bb required either 1st valve or 2-3 to get in tune; a pain in the butt.

Actually, only some of the tuba parts were manufactured at the Fullerton plant. They were then sent to the Reynolds plant in Abilene to be assembled with the rest of the parts which had been made in Abilene. This was true for the tubas and baritones/euphoniums for both brands.