Olds Ambassador / Bach 43 Leadpipe
J. M. TERRY
43 leadpipe to an Olds Ambassador for a great playing horn.
Having had a 43 laying around for years, I lurked on Ebay until I found
an Ambassador, circa 1955, for about $100.
The horn played pretty well as is, but when I fitted the 43 on it, there
was a dramatic improvement in sound and range. Strange that I never
liked the 43 on my Bach, but you can surely tell the difference on the
Olds.
The upper leg of the tuning slide is just a tad loose in the 43, and
will need a little expansion, but other than that, it makes a great
playing horn. Not as good as my Wild Thing, but good.
Thanks, Jim, for the suggestion.
Mike Terry
Jim Donaldson
>I believe it was Jim Donaldson who recently recommended
>fitting a Bach 43 leadpipe to an Olds Ambassador for a great
>playing horn.
Thanks, but giving credit where due, it was Al Lilly, reporting the experiments
of Bob Frost, a repairman in Indianapolis.
It is great to have another positive comment about this modification. I was
thinking of making a web page on ways to improve the Ambassador. Anybody with
other good ideas, please let me know.
Jim Donaldson
Denver Colorado
JFDon...@aol.com
The Schilke Loyalist
http://www.dallasmusic.org/schilke
Dr. Trumpet
Mike,
It was me. Bob Frost and I used to do it with every Ambassador I could buy. I
used them as pro level horns for inner city kids who didn't have a horn, but
showed promise. Can't tell you the number of times these kids won first chair
in all-region bands with a horn like this.
Bob used to take the upper leg (as you call it) off the old Olds leadpipe, and
cut it down to fit the Bach. Worked like a charm. Fitted with a $15 piece to
add a first valve tuning adjustment (certainly an option), these horns played
like gems and lasted like tanks. All for less than $200 at the time.
AL
DHoff56012
>I
>used them as pro level horns for inner city kids who didn't have a horn, but
>showed promise. Can't tell you the number of times these kids won first
>chair
>in all-region bands with a horn like this.
>
>Bob used to take the upper leg (as you call it) off the old Olds leadpipe,
>and
>cut it down to fit the Bach. Worked like a charm. Fitted with a $15 piece
>to
>add a first valve tuning adjustment (certainly an option), these horns played
>
>like gems and lasted like tanks. All for less than $200 at the time.
>
>AL
>
Yes, nice to hear another story about this. I have bought Ambassadors for
students and they have all played very well. If this makes them even better
i'm very impressed. I'm going to try it.
Kevin
out on. I've got a few leadpipes sitting around here. Also might have
to try a Bach rounded tuning slide on from one of my Bach on it. The
rounded tuning slide works GREAT on an "Early Elkhart" Mercedes I
picked up on Ebay. I've done some "Mods" on an Old King Liberty & it's
fun to play lead with now.
Speaking of Ambassadors: I had never played one until about a month
ago. I was in a Music store that sells mostly Guitars & Amps, but they
always have a few Brass around, they had an Bach with a 43 Bell, I
think it was one of the anniversary editions it had the gold inside
the bell. I grabbed my trusty Stork 2c out of the car so I could test
it out. PLAYED like a DOG. It was so stuffy & I use to play a 43. I
saw they had an old beat up Ambassador, so never having played one I
didn't know what to expect. Wow it was nice, better tone, better
slotting. Just to make sure it wasn't me I handed to a friend of mine
that has always played Bach. He said it was better than his Old Bach
37.
Al you made mention of "Fitted with a $15 piece to add a first valve
tuning adjustment:Do you know of a place to get Rings or Saddles or do
you just make your own? Where do you get your parts or do you just
make them?
Thanks,
Kevin Myers
Alpharetta, GA
PS. Love your website Jim, I've told everyone I know about it.
Dr. Trumpet
m_kevin...@yahoo.com (Kevin) wrote:
>
> Al you made mention of "Fitted with a $15 piece to add a first valve
> tuning adjustment:Do you know of a place to get Rings or Saddles or do
> you just make your own? Where do you get your parts or do you just
> make them?
The slide on most of the Ambassadors for the first valve was a double male, so
we got those ones they used to fit to old Bach Strad Bb trumpets. It is like a
rod assembly, then you mount the saddle on it.
Rich Ita put one on an Olds for me about a year ago, so I would guess they are
still available from Allied or someone.
As far as the other parts go, we took the stocking off the top of the leadpipe
from the old one on the Olds, and fit it to the Bach leadpipe. It was an easier
fit, and then the slide didn't have to be messed with on the tuning crook.
However, if you want to try Bach rounded slides, you may wish to keep the Bach
leadpipe intact, and refit the lower slide of the Bach crook with the lower
slide (male) from the Olds slide. There is a slight difference in the two, and
to be honest, I've always been a little squeemish about slide expanding.
AL
AL
J. M. TERRY
So, I now thank YOU for the suggestion of fitting a 43 to the
Ambassador.
I haven't yet had the leadpipe soldered onto the horn. It's just taped
alongside the original. I'm very pleasantly surprised with my newfound
endurance on this horn.
But, I'm a little confused about your remark about cutting the Olds
leadpipe to fit the Bach 43. If this means modifying the Bach leadpipe,
I'm a bit apprehensive since it works so well as it is.
Seems to me that the Olds tuning slide could be expanded to fit the
Bach 43. Maybe a few thousandths of an inch ?
Thanks, Mike Terry
JonathanOO
away out plays my stuffy Bach 37 that's just sitting in it's case.......
Dr. Trumpet
MTE...@webtv.net (J. M. TERRY) wrote:
Mike,
What I used to do was to take the top female stocking off the Olds leadpipe and
fit it to the Bach leadpipe so that the male stocking of the slide would fit in
the leadpipe. If you ever want to experiment with Bach tuning slides, then
leave the Bach pipe as is and expand the tube on the Olds tuning slide. I've
found the expanding of the tuning slide on the Olds sometimes makes for a
slightly stuffier horn, as the area of minimal taper caused by the expansion is
increased. YMMV.
The other was is to leave the Bach leadpipe alone, get a Bach tuning slide, and
then work to fit it to the Olds female stocking that goes into the cluster. The
can be done without expansion of the internal part of the horn, by simply
expanding the lower stocking where the bottom part of the slide goes in.
Hard to describe, but easily done.
Wanna have some real fun? Get a Bach reversed leadpipe, and a reversed tuning
crook, and really open the horn up!
And, no biggie on who suggested it.
AL
Dr. Trumpet
jonat...@aol.com (JonathanOO) wrote:
> I have a modified Ambassador with an early Pilczuk leadpipe...and if far and
> away out plays my stuffy Bach 37 that's just sitting in it's case.......
Do those work well? I've never tried one......
JonathanOO
seems to open up the horn.....