Olds SUPER?

[Randall]

Saxpics has this horn up as a "Martin design" ....were these horns actually produced by Martin? The horn I am talking about has a curious concave indentation on each key...reminds me of flute keys....
Also, what about the playing/sound of them? Any owners out there?
Are they relatively rare?

[Stencilman]

Hey Randall,
These horns are not extremely rare, just a little uncommon - I've seen three go by on Ebay in the last few months. I've played one, but that was many years ago. It was a very heavy horn. It seemed very similar to my The Martin Alto in feel and in looks.

I don't know of any hard evidence that says that these were made by Martin, although, at first look, they sure look like it. The tone holes have a hard step bevell and are different than the two styles that Martin was using in the 1940's and 50's. The keyguards look alot like those on "The Martin ...". I'm pretty sure that the horn I saw was engraved "Made in Los Angeles..." unlike Olds stencils that didn't have the words "Made In ...". Somewhere on the web, there is some discussion about how one or more of Martin's intrument designers went to work for Olds. If the Olds Super wasn't actually made by Martin, that could explain the similarites.

I had these horns (alto and tenor) at the top of my "wish list" but I gave up since they are a bit hard to come by and aren't as cheap as other "Martin stencils".

[Randall]

Thanks Stencilman...informative....

I have managed to land a tenor, I was wondering about them for a long time anyway.
They certainly are striking looking to say the least.

I bet it peels paint. Generally my experience has shown that horns with heavy body tubes tend to have a really nice sound.
The Cannonball is very much that way.