Olds Trombone Mouthpieces

Once again, I'm showing a small collection of Olds mouthpieces, not as an expert, but knowing that it is an unusual gathering including one of a kind, custom made examples and there are a few brass fans out there that might find some interest.  

The first photo shows three mouthpieces without model numbers, that I believe were stock mouthpieces as supplied with Olds trombones.  The first came with my #260 trombone, made about 1918, the second with ivory rim and cup, with trombone #1619 from the early 1920s.  The last example was not found with an Olds trombone, but I believe that it was made in the late 1920s or early 1930s and has "Olds Los Angeles" stamped under the rim.  

In the second photo, the last two are stock mouthpieces, but of unusually large size, presumably supplied with large bore trombones in the 1940s and 1950s.  The first three appear to be custom made, likely by Roe Plimpton in his early years with the company.  The mouthpiece in the middle, with plastic rim, may have been an experiment using bakelight or some other early form of plastic.  

The next group of five were acquired form Roe Plimpton's son, Richard and seem to all have been made for his own use, or as experiments.  They all have a step in the rim to compensate for his overbite.  The first of these may have been modified from a stock ivory rim and cup example and I was informed by Richard that it was his favorite mouthpiece throughout his career.  

The fourth photo shows two of the mouthpieces already illustrated beside the cutter that cut the exterior shape.  This tool was found in Mr. Plimpton's toolbox, although I acquired the "A" mouthpiece from a different source.

 Next is a very interesting mouthpiece made by Roe Plimpton of aluminum.  His log book shows that this was made for David Childress on July 12, 1944 and that he had made quite a few aluminum mouthpieces during the last two years of the war.  

The photo below is a rather low quality photo of Roe Plimpton that appeared in a 1928 Williams and Wallace trombone advertisement.

The last photo shows an example of a run of mouthpieces made by Olds for Charles E. Stacey before his patent was granted in 1921.  This piston valve changed the throat to a smaller diameter while playing in order to favor the high notes.  Roe Plimpton had two of these among his mouthpieces.