Although the Super is only slightly longer than the French Besson, the length from the tip of the mouthpiece receiver to the middle of the crook of the tuning slide on a Super is almost a full inch shorter than the Besson. Obviously, the total length that the air travels is the same as any other Bb trumpet.
The Super has a "wrap" unlike any other Olds trumpet and is about an inch longer than most of today's traditional Bb trumpets and is about 1/4 of an inch longer than the French-made Besson trumpets. Shown above is #39xx a testament to Olds' genius! (photo by John Trayor) Super trumpets were still being made up until this great American brass icon closed its doors in 1979.
In many cases the distinguishing features served a marketing purpose."Įven though a series of design changes occurred over the years, the Super trumpet remained a fixture in the Olds lineup as other models came and went or were completely redesigned. Many of the features that we use to recognize a model are mostly cosmetic. Tapers, tempering of the metal, precision of dimensions, etc are not readily visible. " I've always felt that the features that make a horn great are not obvious to the naked eye. There isn't a single feature that sets the Super apart from other Olds models or those of competitors, but rather the combination of design and function that made this new model so popular.Īlan Rouse (Olds Central) made this comment as we were discussing the Super trumpet. This new model certainly combined a number of features to create a unique trumpet in an era where there was a lot of innovation underway in brass instrument making. It is likely that some of the design/material changes that occurred in the Super model before, during and after WWII can be useful in revising some of the dates of production. It is possible that the actual date of this catalog is a little earlier than 1938, which would make the production numbers during the Depression and start of World War II more consistent with other brass instrument manufacturers, but further research (and discoveries) are needed. Pages from some of the catalogs from Olds Central are included to track design changes along with the related marketing efforts.ĭue to some errors in dating the Olds catalogs featuring some of the early trumpet models, the Super was thought to have begun production in 1932 however, more recent estimates by Robb Stewart now place the first production of the Super trumpet in 1937 and the first published catalog showing the Super (shown above) to be from approximately 1938. Sometimes it is easy to identify a modification, but other times it is hard to know if a Super left the Olds factory with some unusual feature or if it was modified years later. Often nothing is known of the history of a particular instrument, so an occasional anomaly is to be expected when dealing with instruments that are 60 to 70 years old. The photos are credited when known, but several were saved from eBay listings and other internet sources over the past 20 years. My thanks to Ron Berndt, Dale Olson, Charlie Melk, Robb Stewart, Alan Rouse, John Trayor, and Paul Ayick for assistance with this project. Although no additional entries can be made, the information collected from Eric's work with the Olds Register can be found here. There have been some new discoveries since this original document was prepared in 2008 as well as some revised estimates for the years of production of early Olds trumpets.
I assisted Eric with chronicling some of the changes associated with the Olds Super trumpet during its 40 plus years of production. This document builds on work that Eric Hamelin did more than a decade ago as a part of the Olds Register. Many years later, when looking for a good student trumpet for my son, I rediscovered Olds trumpets and have been fascinated by the innovation and longevity of these finely crafted American brass instruments. My love affair with Olds trumpets began in 1977 when my dad handed me his 1946 Super trumpet to use in High School.