Olds Ambassador bore size?

[Scott Mallard]

Can anyone tell me what the bore size is on an Olds Ambassador? When I was
a kid I started out on an Ambassador (played it from 1969 - 1974) and found
it hard to push much air through. It's because of this fact that I'm
hesitant to buy one for my son. Have all the Ambassadors been the same bore
size throughout the years? Mine was probably a late 50's early 60's
vintage.

Thanks,
Scott

[Jerry Houston]

Ahh ... the Olds Ambassador ... my favorite pro-quality student horn!

"Hard to push much air through" doesn't describe any of the Olds Ambassadors
I've owned (5 or 6 at last count). I'm not sure about the size of the
trumpet bores, but my current Ambassador cornet measures .464". (That's
Medium Large, right?)

I've learned an important lesson in the last few months: that an instrument
may appear to be very stuffy if it's used with a mouthpiece it doesn't care
for. At first, I hated my C trumpet, when I played it with a Denis Wick 3C
that works perfectly well on my Bb. Just before I gave up on it entirely, I
plugged in a Bach 1C, and it turned into a very free-blowing and responsive
trumpet! Now I use it with a Laskey 68*, and it's very happy with that,
too. These things can have DEFINITE preferences for particular mouthpieces.

You may need to experiment a bit to find the perfect mouthpiece for any
Ambassador that you buy (as you might with any other trumpet), but rest
assured that the model itself isn't inherently restrictive. Best of luck
finding a good one!

Jerry in Seattle

Scott Mallard <mal...@basec.net> wrote in message
news:rvd8ea...@corp.supernews.com...

> Can anyone tell me what the bore size is on an Olds Ambassador? When I
was
> a kid I started out on an Ambassador (played it from 1969 - 1974) and
found

> it hard to push much air through...

[dennis]

Jerry Houston <jer...@oz.net> wrote

> I've learned an important lesson in the last few months: that an instrument
> may appear to be very stuffy if it's used with a mouthpiece it doesn't care
> for.

theory;
i believe there is a corollary lesson; that there is certain combinations of
bore size, mouthpiece, lip aperture that go together (as applies to specific
people)

what made get on this track is the big sound bobby shew can get
on that little z horn. he makes a point when he gives a lesson to
talk about using an open aperture. so he is letting his lips do
what the larger bore does for someone with a more closed
aperture. which is to let more air through.

so i'm guessing there is a balance that could be had with various
combinations. i have a fairly tight embouchure. if i played a z horn,
i could probably get by if i drilled the daylights out of the throat,
in lieu of opening my aperture. or, bobby could probably play
a w-t, if he used a 30 throat on the mp. etc. this is all a theory,
but it sort of makes sense. everyone has a certain amount of
air they want to get through the horn, to get the sound they want.
and something has got to give.

i wasn't willing to give the open aperture a try, since i was getting
a pretty big sound the way it was. and my way felt very natural.
and i had a range that was beyond my expectations for having
just started again. i have no regrets. but i imagine (adaptable
as man can be) that i could take a z horn, and a years lessons
from bobby, and possibly come to grips with a whole new
outlook.

but when you have a w-t, i couldn't think of why in
the world anyone would want to do that.
--
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[Bryan Fields]

I played an Ambassador in high school that had already been through six years
with my brother. It was really, really stuffy. I cleaned it and cleaned it and
cleaned it and still stuffy up high. One day I ran a snake down the bell and it
got stuck. I yanked real hard and out popped my missing mouthpiece brush that
had gotten jammed in the bell bow somehow. After that I moved up ten chairs.

Jerry Houston wrote:

> Ahh ... the Olds Ambassador ... my favorite pro-quality student horn!
>
> "Hard to push much air through" doesn't describe any of the Olds Ambassadors
> I've owned (5 or 6 at last count). I'm not sure about the size of the
> trumpet bores, but my current Ambassador cornet measures .464". (That's
> Medium Large, right?)
>

> I've learned an important lesson in the last few months: that an instrument
> may appear to be very stuffy if it's used with a mouthpiece it doesn't care

> for. At first, I hated my C trumpet, when I played it with a Denis Wick 3C
> that works perfectly well on my Bb. Just before I gave up on it entirely, I
> plugged in a Bach 1C, and it turned into a very free-blowing and responsive
> trumpet! Now I use it with a Laskey 68*, and it's very happy with that,
> too. These things can have DEFINITE preferences for particular mouthpieces.
>
> You may need to experiment a bit to find the perfect mouthpiece for any
> Ambassador that you buy (as you might with any other trumpet), but rest
> assured that the model itself isn't inherently restrictive. Best of luck
> finding a good one!
>
> Jerry in Seattle
>
> Scott Mallard <mal...@basec.net> wrote in message
> news:rvd8ea...@corp.supernews.com...
> > Can anyone tell me what the bore size is on an Olds Ambassador? When I
> was
> > a kid I started out on an Ambassador (played it from 1969 - 1974) and
> found
> > it hard to push much air through...

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To reply, remove "DEATHTOSPAM" from e-mail address

[TrebleHorn]

The Ambassador trumpets are a .460" bore at the 2nd slide. The cornets are
indeed .464 at the 2nd slide.

As far as the stuffyness, Jerry is right on. There needs to be a good match
between mouthpiece and reciever. I just put an adjustable gap reciever on my
strad this weekend, and the differences you can provoke are amazing. When the
gap is too small or non-existant, the horn is almost uncontrollable. Too large
and it gets real stuffy and heavy sounding. I did it mainly because I use 2
totally different pieces. A Mendez 2 for legit, and a bored out Bach 7D for
sizzle. The Mendez shank is slightly larger than the Bach, so the resulting
gap was larger before the AGR.

The gap area was explained to me to be a pressure drop situation. As the
airstream exits the mouthpiece, it rapidly expands in the gap, and then
recompresses at the beginning of the leadpipe. There apparently needs to be a
slight decompression, but too much can kill the tone and attack.

Alan Larsen
Trebl...@aol.com

[kitzatwork]

Hi Scott,

I recently purchased a reconditioned a '54 Ambassador. This year has
an oversized receiver. The person I bought it from extolled the
virtues of this horn which were not apparent to me when I used the
mouthpieces which came with the horn. The receiver just SWALLOWED
them, resulting in a "honking" low register and stuffyness setting in
around "e" above middle "c".

I'm having a custom piece made to fit this horn. It's a real peach
otherwise.

I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, wrap a little tape around
the shank of your piece if its going in too far.

sk

Sat, 2 Oct 1999 19:12:33 -0500, "Scott Mallard" <mal...@basec.net>
wrote: