F. E. Olds

F. E. Olds was a manufacturer of musical instruments founded by Frank Ellsworth (F. E.) Olds in Los Angeles, California in the early 1900s. The company made brass instruments, especially trombones, cornets, and trumpets.

By the late 1960s or early 1970s, although still producing some professional level instruments, the company had become better known for mass-produced student instruments. Construction quality declined as production quotas were emphasized. That plus competition from other companies and cutbacks in school music budgets led to the firm going out of business in 1979. The Olds and Reynolds names (Olds merged with F.A. Reynolds in 1964) have since been bought and revived in 1983 by a new company under the name F.E. Olds and Sons, based in Mountainside, New Jersey.