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Question
A friend has a Harry B. Jay valve trombone with oringinal document showing serial number 3575, sold April 17, 1917. The horn has 2 tuning slides of different sizes, has "Columbia" printed on the bell. Do you have any information on this make? Thanks you.
Columbia was a trade name used by Jay. His company was in existence from 1910 to 1946. The two tuning slides are most likely to change it from high pitch to low pitch. At the early part of the 20th century, there had been no decision as to what pitch to use for instruments, so the brass instrument would often be configured so they could play at both pitches. The double tuning slides would be consistent with the date of the document.
The company's early instruments were carefully hand made and Louis Armstrong used one of their instruments.
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| Comment | I was aware of some of the information provided from my poking around on internet. However, there was one interesting additional insight regarding pitch standardization of the era. Thank you. | ||
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Answers by Expert:
Kenton Scott
Expertise
Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.
Experience
I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net
Education/Credentials
B.S. Ed, M.S.
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