Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/24/2005

Question
It appears to be silver plated.  How would I be able to tell whether it is German silver or satin silver?  Also the inner playing slide seems to be brass and may have been chrome plated-- I see traces closer to 1st position.

Brian

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Followup To
Question -
We recently cleaned out my grandmother's barn to find an old trombone.  It has All-American Made etched on the bell.  I can't remember the serial #.  I do remember that the tuning slide was a part of the playing slide.

I am a trombone player and am curious about it's age and manufacturer history.   

Brian Grenier
Hobart, Indiana
Answer -
Hi Brian,

I wonder if there was anything else on the bell.  

There was an "American", and an "American Standard", but I suspect this is something else.  If it has a serial number on it, it would seem like it was a company that was making volumes of instruments.  

I think the point of the All American made was in response to the fact that many instruments were made in Czechoslovokia, Austria, Hungary, etc. and then brought to the US and had an American Company's name stenciled on.

There is an example of an American at:
http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb1/YaBB.cgi?board=American;action=display

The tuning in the slide was mostly done early in the century as a way to make the bell section smoothly conical bore, rather than have cylindrical sections where the tuning slides were.  Conn bass trombones carried on that tradition for a long time.  And, it makes sense, although it does make the slide heavier.

Is it raw brass, lacquered brass, german silver or satin silver?  That may give some indication of age.  Is there a slide to bell section lock, or is it friction fit?  What does the water key look like, is there one?  How is the rim of the bell finished?  These things might help date it.

If you want to send along some pictures, I might be able to see other clues as to its age.

Kenton  

Answer
ok, look at the first horns on these pages:

This is a nickel silver instrument.

http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb1/YaBB.cgi?board=Missenhaiter;action=dis

This is a satin silver instrument

http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb1/YaBB.cgi?board=Conn;action=display;num

Inner slide tubes can be all brass, silver plated, nickel silver plated, or chrome plated.  Or, they sometimes do a combination with only the stockings done with the better material.  Usually, the stockings wear but the rest of the slide doesn't.

kms