Olds Ambassador Modification

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walldaja
Posts: 537
Joined: Jul 11, 2018

by walldaja »

I've seen a lot of old Ambassadors that have one brace by the tuning slide. Looks like the brace on the tuning slide is missing vice the one at the tail of the bell. Is this a common mod or a model from the factory?

Thanks
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Mamaposaune
Posts: 657
Joined: Sep 22, 2018

by Mamaposaune »

I think the early ones came from the factory that way. Sometime in the late 50's they re-designed the Ambassador, adding the 2nd brace on the tuning slide, and changing the handgrip brace to a round one.

It may have coincided with the Olds move from L.A. to Fullerton.
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Conn100HGuy
Posts: 126
Joined: Oct 22, 2018

by Conn100HGuy »

I have an early Fullerton model. The tuning slide has a brace; there are no round braces anywhere on the horn.
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Posaunus
Posts: 5018
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by Posaunus »

Older Los Angeles Olds Ambassador trombones had no tuning slide brace. The counterweight was directly attached to the tuning slide crook.

<ATTACHMENT filename="Olds Ambassador Trombone - no brace.jpg" index="1">[attachment=1]Olds Ambassador Trombone - no brace.jpg</ATTACHMENT>

Later versions (perhaps late 1950s, early 1960s?, Fullerton) added a tuning slide brace with a more standard placement of the counterweight on the brace.

<ATTACHMENT filename="Olds Ambassador Trombone w brace.jpg" index="0">[attachment=0]Olds Ambassador Trombone w brace.jpg</ATTACHMENT>
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calcbone
Posts: 225
Joined: Jun 11, 2018

by calcbone »

There is one variant in between those two pictures—it looks like the first one, with the counterweight attached to the tuning slide crook, except it does have a tuning slide brace also, just below where the counterweight hangs.

Here’s an example on eBay: <LINK_TEXT text="https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DCh ... g96BAgBEEc">https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwjmi-js2Kz7AhV7FNQBHRwBCaoYABALGgJvYQ&ae=2&sig=AOD64_2ot2B-9aMFP3zzvZxs4DPvwBkLaA&adurl&ctype=5&ved=2ahUKEwjIxNfs2Kz7AhXMQkIHHYw6CEAQwg96BAgBEEc</LINK_TEXT>
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Posaunus
Posts: 5018
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by Posaunus »

Apparently the Ambassador (like many other Olds trombones) had lots of variants during its long life cycle!
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JohnL
Posts: 2529
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by JohnL » (edited 2022-11-14 3:08 p.m.)

To further confuse the issue...

I know one trombonist who has what was originally a "single-brace" Ambassador that was returned to the factory to have the second brace added. His is probably not the only one to receive that modification.
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walldaja
Posts: 537
Joined: Jul 11, 2018

by walldaja »

Thanks guys!