I recently picked up a Holton double valve euphonium, 4 valve, upright main bell. From what I believe is the serial number (94XX on second valve casing with Frank Holton stamp above it) the instrument dates to somewhere between 1911 and 1912. The previous owner believed it to be from around 1913 so this sounds close enough. If there is some other hidden place I should look, please advise. The only other number I found, 80XX, was on the fourth valve casing.
I purchased the instrument from someone whose grandfather played it in bands in Missouri in the 1920s. It has been sitting untouched for at least 60 years. The horn came with both sets of slides (HP/LP), original leather case which is not in the greatest shape and 4 mouthpieces including the original. Is there a technical term for these 'smaller than small shank' mouthpieces? I am a trombonist so please forgive my ignorance as I have never seen one of these shanks.
The intonation on the big bell is a tad wonky. The biggest issue I see is that the low Bb is extremely out of tune but the Bb's above it are just fine. From what I have read by way of this forum this sounds like the norm with these Holton double bell euphs. The intonation seems to be quite a bit better on the small bell. I assume this is something that one just learns to deal with and work around.
The good and the bad: It is in excellent condition with what I would say is 98% silver (and gold wash) finish remaining, virtually no dents except for a few very small ones in the bottom bow. The only issues I can immediately see are that it needs to have the second valve slide repaired (legs are stuck inside, I "repaired" temporarily with a zip tie and some o-rings so I could test it out), and the fourth valve needs some work as it tends to stick. I gave it a thorough cleaning this morning but suspect that more gunk will loosen and be dislodged over time. The valves are leaky but that is to be expected. I will experiment more with heavier oil before I do anything more extreme. I could not find what was suggested by my tech, Hetman Classic (or #3 depending on how old your bottle is), so I purchased some Yamaha Vintage valve oil at the local music store that worked for about 20 minutes before it disbursed and the valves started to leak again. I suspect I need something a little thicker. Does anyone have a suggestion on a thicker oil, preferably not Hetman (that is just my personal preference)?
The only other photo I have found online of a euphonium that looks like this particular model with the "curled" main tuning slide appears to be housed in the Holton Factory Reference Collection at the National Music Museum. Does anyone have any information on these? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will include photos at the bottom of this post.
National Music Museum link
Main euph page with info - http://www.drobnakbrass.com/index.ph...on/euphoniums/
More photos - http://www.drobnakbrass.com/index.ph...ell-euphonium/