Olds Radio and Military Model Cornets

When Victor Yuen purchased this Radio Model cornet, it looked a bit worn and deteriorated with age. There’s nothing surprising about that; the instrument is over 80 years old. The case is exceptionally well preserved and so is the cornet. Only the lacquer was almost completely failing, but the cornet is hardly used. There were only a few very small dents and no other signs of the passing years.

The Radio Model Cornet first appeared in the Olds catalog published in 1939 and was likely available for a year or two, making it one of the rarest. It appears almost identical to the Military Model Cornet that it seems to have replaced. The bells appear to have been made on the same mandrel, the valves are the same bore (.453”) and the mouthpipes also appear the same. The most detectable differences are in the primary tuning slide crook and tubes. In the Military, the upper tube is .418” bore, the lower is .438” and the crook tapers in between. In the Radio, the upper tube is the same, but the crook and lower tube are .453” bore. The Military Model pictured below (top) is an early example from about 1934.

The Radio Model also has adjustable finger hook on the first valve slide and adjustable finger ring on the secondary main tuning slide, that can be used while playing.

During the years that the Military Model Cornet, Trumpet and Trombone were made, 1933 until about 1938, they had “hand hammered” finish on the bells and a smooth finished bell was an option by special order. The hammered bell was optional on all the other models, except the Super, because of its thinner bell metal. In the 1939 catalog, after the Military models were no longer listed, the hammered finish was still optional.

Olds did not put dates on their catalogs in the 1930s until the 1939 issue, but one that I guess to have been published about 1934, before the introduction of the Super trombone in 1935, there appears a Radio Model Trombone. This model does not appear in any of the later catalogs and I don’t know if they also made Radio Model Trumpets.

The sizes designations of Olds instruments is a bit confusing, they include “S” for small, “M” for medium, “LM” for large medium, “LLM” for large large medium, “L” for large “M SYM” for medium symphony and “SYM” for symphony. I haven’t completely deciphered what these mean, but they are all relative sizes and not actual bore measurements. The MIlitary Model cornets were available in four sizes: S, M, LM and L. I have only found the actual bore measurements to be .453”, but they must have been available with different bell and mouthpipe combinations and perhaps larger valve bores. The 1939 catalogs states that “Olds trumpets, cornets and trombones, with the exception of the bass trombone, are built in four bores: medium (M); large medium (LM); large, large medium (LLM); and large (SYM or symphony).”

This cornet is the only example that I’ve seen on which the bore specification is indicated on the mouthpiece receiver. I initially thought that this only indicated that the mouthpipe was the medium size, the valve section also being stamped “M”. The catalog description seems to indicate that there would not have been an option of an M mouthpipe on an LM valve section or other combination. Lacking other examples, I can’t make any more sense of this. Please let me know if you own one of these models with a different specification or any other relevant facts.