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matt g wrote:The 2J is 3/4 sized.

A great quintet tuba, imo.

York-aholic wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:34 am Here's another on for $1700 in Clearwater, FL for those of you on the East Coast;

https://reverb.com/item/29925584-conn-4j-4-valve-tuba

hrender wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:55 am

York-aholic wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:34 am Here's another on for $1700 in Clearwater, FL for those of you on the East Coast;

https://reverb.com/item/29925584-conn-4j-4-valve-tuba

The ad text indicates this one is a 4J. Similar horn, though.

I have been reading the posts about 2Js and now with this post about the differences between 2 and 3J's I have to insert my 2 cents worth.

1. Yes the obvious difference was the bell 16.5" 2J & 18" 3J bell size.
2. Valve bore was the same on both horns, .658 but somehow they made the action shorter on the 3Js and it wasn't the old oval ports.
3. 2 slides sections to pull on the 4th valve of the 3J and 1 on the 2J. However, some of the 2Js came with an extra long 4th valve slide that lowered the pitch an augmented 4th which allowed for some interesting alternate fingering possibilities.
4. Better bracing on the 3J, plus protective plates on the bottom bow and players left side of the horn on the 3J which added weight.
5. The 3J came with a heavy weight bottom valve caps. Don't know whose idea that was, but that was well before those became popular with brass players and I doubt that many people even noticed because that wasn't a fad in 1977 or 78 when the 3J was introduced.
6. The ends of all tubes on the 3Js had a rolled lip/end and the 2J was just cut. Not a big deal, but an indication of refinement and detail on the 3Js.

How were the alike? Both horns play very well in tune and were generally pretty consistent from one horn to the other. Both produced a large sound considering the overall size and physical appearance. Did the 3J sound larger than the 2J? I don't think there was a real significant difference. Was the 2J more focused? Read previous answer. I do notice a bit more resonance in the sound of the 3Js, but some of that could might have to do with some of the things mentioned earlier; weight, braces, protective plates, etc. All things considered, either model was a very efficient, user friendly horn, that played well in tune, however in our world of tuba desires for BIGGER horns I'm sure that a decline in demand for these horns influenced the end of production.

By the way: On a previous post there was some mention of the 2Js being made in California at the Olds factory. While this may have been true for some of the earlier 2Js, many were made in Abilene at the Reynolds factory. Since Olds and Reynolds were one in the same at that time it only made sense to move to Texas where there was probably potential for less expensive labor at that time. Some actually had Abilene stamped on the bell. Also, I believe that at that point Olds/Reynolds were not actually making the instruments, but Conn had bought the facility and had there own workers making the horns. The 3Js were also made there when the 2J was discontinued around '77/'78. Also most 2Js came without the nickel plated inner bell.

One other point; Frequently the 2Js show up as being made in 1958. No they were not. this is because of the Olds/Reynolds serial #s that DO NOT correspond with Conn's serial sequence.

Richard Murrow

LeMark wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:37 am I thought the 2J horns were reynolds. I get confused about the difference between reynolds and olds.

But yes, different than the 4J for sure.

Yorkboy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 11:32 am Olds/Reynolds era:
2J = CC

UMI/present era;
3J = CC (?)

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:12 pm Question: was the name "Olds" derived from "Reynolds"?

MartinMan wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:09 pm

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:12 pm Question: was the name "Olds" derived from "Reynolds"?

While F.E. Olds and F.A. Reynolds were two different people, their names sure did look similar when abbreviated.

After working for ten years to build and secure his company’s place in the brass instrument industry and having spent over 40 years in the industry overall, Foster Reynolds sold F.A. Reynolds Co. to Max Scherl and Heinrich Roth of Scherl & Roth in 1946 and “retired” at age 62.

However, just a year later, he was consulting for Maurice H. Berlin, president of Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI), parent company of F.E. Olds & Son. Founded in 1920, CMI was a long-time distributor for California-based F.E. Olds & Son. Shortly after World War II ended and brass instrument manufacturing restrictions were lifted, CMI purchased F.E. Olds & Son and took over operations with an eye on penetrating the burgeoning school band market.

The “Brilliant Bell” of the 1948/49 Studio line (trumpet, cornet, trombone) points to either collaboration or competition with his former company in Cleveland, who had launched an identical nickel-silver bell flare on the Emperor (“Silver Flare”) and Roth (“Tone Tempered”) lines in 1947.

As the plant supervisor at Olds in the 1950’s, Foster Reynolds pioneered large-scale techniques for manufacturing brasswinds and mentored Don Agard, a former F.A. Reynolds Co. employee, and Zigmant Kanstul, who started at Olds as a French horn assembler. One of Agard’s first major projects was managing the move in 1954 from Olds’ long-time factory in Los Angeles to larger facilities in Fullerton.