For sale is a Holton Collegiate Cornet made in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The serial number is 131167 circa 1939. There is a cornet mouthpiece and a case included. See the photos for the cosmetic condition.

I recently purchased two trumpets at a garage sale - a Holton Collegiate (S/N 341876 - dates to 1961) and a T602 (S/N 881955). I found some serial numbers on musictrader but they end well before the T602 series so I don't know its date. I was curious to do a side-by-side comparison of them, both mechanically and musically and was amazed at the differences. In fact, I could find virtually no similarities at all. The Collegiate has the engraving on the bell while the T602 has it on the receiver and the second valve. The Collegiate has a substantially larger bore (I found by examining the pipe sizes and trying to interchange the 2nd valve slides), larger bell, and also a larger valve diameter - although the piston length is shorter than the T602. Also, the braces, water valves, 1st and 3rd slides, and leadpipe are all very different.

When I played them side-by-side, to my (still) untrained ear, the T602 sounded brighter and louder and reached the high registers easier with better slotting while the Collegiate seemed more mellow and dark. Does any of this agree with what others know about these two models?

I did some searching on the internet and could find no direct comparison between them. Were they made in different factories under different ownership or just built for different markets? Also, I found references to various suffixes for the T602 (R, P, etc) but could find no explanation regarding what they mean. Can anyone enlighten me? I plan to fix one up and donate it to a local band for a kid who can't afford one. I thought I would keep the other one for awhile just to try out.

For a beginning kid, would the T602 be easier to play (if I can locate some replacement valve buttons)? The Collegiate seems just a bit more sturdy to the feel but I cannot point out anything specific about it. Any thoughts? I have never played a T602 so I can't speak for that horn. However, I did pick up a pawn shop special Holton Collegiate for 40 bucks for my son a couple of years ago. That thing is built like a tank and sounds great. The valves work great and all the slides are very good.

Just from my experience, if you are going to donate a horn, I would donate the Collegiate. It would be a wonderful starter horn for a kid who can't afford one and can take most of the abuse they can dish out. Just my.02 worth. I had an old trumpet hanging on the wall of my newly finished music room that I traded a pawn shop a cheap no name guitar for a few years back.

I had hung it on the wall as deocration. Now that I've been taking lessons I decided to pull it down and see what it was. It is a Holten T602MA Collegiate model. The bell is pretty dented up and it scratched in some places. The finish still seems to be 100% intact with no bare metal. The old 7c mouth piece is stuck and it has a brace that needs put back together, and tuning slide that is stuck in the out posistion. I decided to clean the mouthpiece and give it a try.

This thing sounds great! I think I'm gonna have the mouthpiece unstuck and start using this for my lessons. I seem to sound better on it than my brand new horn. Don't know if it's the horn or the mouthpiece but I like it. I will post a pic as soon as I have one.

Oh and it doesn't have a regular brace on the main tuning slide it has a round Holten emblem in the middle.

• • • • • • • • Goto page 1, ->:: Author Message shofarguy Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Sep 2007 Posts: 6248 Location: AZ Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:37 pm Post subject: Your Opinons: Holton Collegiate Hi, gang, I just got out my student horn to clean it up for a cornet player to use this Easter in our church program. It is a Holton Collegiate from 1970 or '71. The valves look great, but compression is only good. There are suction dents in most of the valve slides from years of pulling them w/o plunging the pistons first. There are flattened and dented places along the bell, but I don't think they change the playability.