The "Stereophonic" Story

In the early 1950s, Kauko Kahila — bass trombone, St. Louis Symphony — began correspondence with F.A. Reynolds Co. on more effective ways of extending and playing the low-register range of the bass trombone. With a standard one-valve change to F, the lowest playable chromatic is the low C, leaving a half-step gap to the pedal B♭ — bass trombonists typically had to either "lip down" the C to approximate the B or pull tuning slides out, extending the instrument's length to get close to the desired B, but leaving the horn ill-tuned for other notes until the slides could be readjusted. 

Like other manufacturers at the time, Reynolds had accommodated the latter approach by providing an F attachment with an extra-long tuning slide to E on their original Contempora "Symphony" model (1949). However, Kahila (and many others) wanted to more accurately and more easily play passages such as the low B glissando in Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” (written in 1944 and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, it was a standard piece in the orchestra's repertoire and a recurring challenge for Kahila, having joined Boston in 1952).

Reynolds introduced a new Contempora bass trombone, the “Philharmonic” model, in 1955-56 with a modified F attachment that had two tuning slides: the main F tuning slide for conventional use and a second slide that could pulled to achieve E tuning, then pushed in to return to F. This was an advantage over the conventional “Symphony” model with its single tuning slide, but still required a player to manually adjust a tuning slide while playing. 

The "Philharmonic" model proved to be popular with orchestral bass trombonists. Kahila selected it as a lighter and more responsive alternative to his traditional Schmidt bass trombone for Boston Pops concerts. Kahila, Allen Ostrander (New York Philharmonic Orchestra) and Louis Counihan (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) all endorsed the model. Counihan appears in 1956 print ads praising the new model and all three are featured in late 1950s Reynolds catalogs.

According to records in the NYPO digital archives, Ostrander switched from a Conn 70H to the "Philharmonic" model in early 1957, taking it on the orchestra's spring tour that April. His instrument is recorded as serial number 45190, which matches an early 1957 date, and is valued at $395, the same list price in the 1958 catalog.

Not fully satisfied with the solution provided by the "Philharmonic", Kahila continued to experiment with designs that would engage the E tubing only when needed through the press of a trigger and a second rotary valve. He claimed that he came up with the design for the double-valve tubing by laying out strands of string on the floor — this might suggest the origin of the unique “Reynolds wrap” design that extends the F-attachment tubing forward toward the bell in what Doug Yeo calls "a radical change ... and an early example of what we now call 'open wrap'". Kahila sent the designs to Reynolds and they agreed to move forward with a pilot.

As a result of the discussions with Kahila, Reynolds built three prototypes in late 1957 and brought in Ostrander and Counihan for testing and feedback. The three musicians met over the winter of 1957-58 to discuss the prototypes—they requested changes to the placement of braces around the valve section and suggested the use of saxophone-style key rollers to aid the dependent dual-trigger design. Reynolds began work on implementing their recommendations and that fall, after playing the prototype on a summer tour throughout Latin America, Ostrander sent his model back to the factory to be upgraded. Ostrander's instrument was serial number 49479 and valued at $500 (list price in 1958)—unlike Kahila and Counihan's prototypes with the standard Reynolds bronze bell, Ostrander had requested a yellow brass bell.