The following is a collection of wisdom gathered from a variety of Forums on the Internet:
History
F.E. Olds 1960-1980 Circa – found different dates for this horn.
Specifications
.500 Bore, 8.5" Bell.
Comparing With Other Marching Trombones
Many favor the Olds over the King. But there are many who say they like the King over the Olds.
A key feature of the Olds is that the air enters valve 1 and exits valve 3. Most marching trombones go 3-2-1.
Using It
Think they are great doubling instruments for small jazz combos, and I also believe they legitimately can serve as a bass trumpet in a symphonic setting.
Last time Le Sacre was on my stand the bass trumpeter used one of these (Flugabone) and sounded dynamite. In the right hands and after some minor corrective work these are good horns.
Flugabone Sound
Due to the wraps from the valve design, there is more resistance and the timbre is closer to baritone (British) or valve trombone. However, it's a bit different in comparison to an American Baritone or a Euphonium. It's somewhat close to the timbre of a British baritone but it points forward, and a valve Trombone.
Customizing It
A lightweight bell, A couple tuning slide triggers (or 2 way master trigger), bore of X >= .515" and an actual trombone leadpipe with some thin nickel tubing and you'd have a valve trombone that may actually sound like a trombone...
I'm with you on that. But the reality is that the tightly wrapped valve trombones, so to speak, are made for marching band. They are not designed to have an elegant, vibrant sound. They are designed to survive a few years of being kicked around on the marching field.
Slide Triggers - As far as I can tell, it won't take a third-valve trigger. It has a lyre fitting on the third valve slide, but it's too far out to be useful with a sliding ring, and the slide itself is male on both tubes, which also complicates matters. The slide tubes go inside of the tubes coming out of the valve body instead of outside. The same is true of the first valve. Perhaps one could modify the first valve in such a way that it's male on the horn side and female on the slide side. I think that's a better bet, since the first valve slide doesn't have the u-turn in it that the third valve slide has.
Parts For the Flugabone to Play
Part for the Flugabone to play - Baritone part may work best. Make sure you haven't lost the finger ring and that the 3rd slide moves well if you've got a kid on a low tbone part as this is where the worst fingerings generally appear.
I wouldn't try it on bass-ish parts, but the normal 3rd tenor parts you see should be just fine.
Lowest tenor part, assuming nothing below E, would probably work fine and you could be a pitch lock in for the other guys on that part (make sure you tune that 123 B!!!
Mouthpieces
12C mouthpiece usually tunes better than a 6.5AL but try a couple. Even try an odd duck mpc or 2.
Licensing
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{{subst:Upload marker added by en.wp UW}} {{Information |Description = {{en|F.E. Olds Fugabone Serial Number indicates it was made in 1979.}} |Source = Looking up F.E. Olds Horns and Serial Numbers<br/> '''Previously published:''' Facebook |Date = 29 M...