TromboneChat

To get right to the point, does anyone here have easy access to an Olds Ambassador euph/baritone horn? The instrument almost every middle and high school owned back in the 60's-70's.
I have a question on the valves. What, if any, is the difference between the 1st and 3rd valve pistons? By any chance are they interchangeable?
Long story short, I picked up one for a friend, a trumpet player, who is getting up there in years and wants to have one to fool around with. I spotted the Olds locally, thought it seemed like a good deal, and offered to go check it out. (He is limiting his driving) There were a few notes that were a bit stuffy and difficult to focus, not too bad, and I thought it was due to the leadpipe being bent. Worth having repaired, IMO.
So, I went to clean it, and was surprised to find that two of the valve pistons are marked "3" and look identical! One was in the 1st valve casing, the other where it belonged. In other words, there are 2 "3" pistons, and no "1"
My past experience with valves has been that if you swap valves, it is totally unplayable. This beast will play, just not as well as it should. Now I am unsure if I have one relatively minor problem (the bent leadpipe) and one major problem.
I knew when I bought it that it was a former school-owned instrument, but my friend and I both agreed it would likely be a better option than a cheap Chinese made baritone.

It's not uncommon for 1st and 3rd valves to be the same.

Does it play OK with the 1st valve in one position and bad with it in the other? That'd be a pretty clear indicator of a mismatched valve.

You could also pull the valve crooks and check to see if the air is going where it should.

EDIT: Looking at a pic online, it looks like the ports on 1 and 3 are in the same places.

Are the corks and felts in OK shape? Do the valve buttons rest at the same height when "up"?

I have one. They appear to be identical so I swapped. The horn plays just fine, although one valve was tight when swapped.

I wonder if the felts are compressed enough that they might be causing the ports to misalign slightly?

--Andy in OKC

Thanks, Andy! That is just what I was hoping to hear. The felts look fairly new, so I suspect the issue to be the leadpipe.

Mamaposaune wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:05 pm Thanks, Andy! That is just what I was hoping to hear. The felts look fairly new, so I suspect the issue to be the leadpipe.

You're welcome. Full disclosure. I'm not a euphonium player. This is a bell front Olds Ambassador baritone.

In other words, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

--Andy in OKC