Model Line Identification

Select one of the model lines at left to view historical notes and engraving styles from throughout Reynolds' history.

For more than 40 years, Reynolds instruments were available in models for every musician, from the beginning student to a professional artist. Reynolds' original instruments featured various options, from basic all-brass models to nickel-silver trimmings to sterling silver bells with ornate gold inlay engravings. Student model horns were sold under the Ohio Band Instrument Company brand line.

After Scherl & Roth bought out Reynolds in 1946, Reynolds introduced the Emperor and Contempora models to market instruments to advanced students/community band members and professional artists, respectively. When the "Roth-Reynolds" company brand was introduced in the early 1950s, the original "F.A. Reynolds" trumpets, cornets and tenor trombones were relabeled as Professional models and marked with a plain "Reynolds" script.

The Contempora, Professional, Emperor and Roth model lines formed the nucleus of the Roth-Reynolds Instrument Co. in the 1950s. The addition of the nickel-silver Argenta instruments in 1959 and the student Medalist instruments in 1961 completed the catalog (less the Roth line) for the volatile 1960s. The 1970s featured many of the same model names, but as manufacturing was shared with Olds, many of the distinctive features and characteristics were changed and bore little resemblance to the previous models of the same name.