Couesnon and Holton Tuba?

[JohnPolka]

Hi,

I have this 3/4 BB flat 3 valve tuba and recently took it into the local repair shop for some work. I always wondered what brand of tuba it is. The engraving is really faint on the tuba (maybe this was due to someone going to town reapplying lacquer ?). All I could make out was "U.S.A." The other marking is a clear "Made in France" stamped on the bell. Under the "Made in France" there is a "57409" stamped on the bell (possibly a serial number?). For some time now, I've suspected that the tuba is a Couesnon since it resembled others I've seen on the web. But the engraving always made me wonder.

Anyway, at the repair shop I asked the technician if he knew what brand of tuba this was. He looked at the faint engraving and could make out "HOLTON ELKHORN, WIS U.S.A.". This was really puzzling since he and another tech said the horn is definitely a Couesnon. Anyone know if Holton rebranded tubas from Couesnon or vice versa? There are no other markings on the horn. However, with some effort, I can now make out the full engraving on the horn.

-JP

[JohnPolka]

Where is the Holton engraving? You did not tell us. Are you saying that both "U.S.A." and "Made in France" are stamped onto the same piece of metal, or are these two markings on separate parts of the tuba? If that is the case then something was replaced on the horn.

Both markings are on the Tuba bell. There is no mention of Couesnon, just Holton. However, the horn definitely looks like a Couesnon.

Neither horn has maker's marques anywhere else. So this does not make much sense to me...

I agree.

[JohnPolka]

Postby Curmudgeon » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:37 am
Some years back I worked at a middle school that had what I bet were the same tubas as mentioned above. There was a dark period where Holton did source some brass to France in the same way that they then later did with Yamaha in Japan. None of the kids wanted to use them as they were pretty difficult to play.

This seems to make sense. Do you recall if there were any Holton engravings on these tubas at your old middle school?

Also just curious...why did the kids find these tubas difficult to play? Were there other types of tubas that were easier to play?

-JP

[JohnPolka]

Haha! Wade, I should have quoted the OP. I was wondering if the OP could post a picture of his tuba so we could get a better idea.

I'll attempt to post some photos soon.

[JohnPolka]

Attached are some photos of the tuba. The third is a pic of the "Made in France" stamp on the bell. I was unable to get a pic of the Holton engraving since it was too faint for the camera.

tuba1.JPG

tuba2.JPG

tuba-stamp.JPG

[bort]

How do you pronounce "Couesnon," anyway? I always say "Q's nun," although I am sure that's wrong.

[JohnPolka]

They had Holton and "Made in France" just like yours. Same tubas.

As far as the dislike for the tubas by the students...

The tubas were a pretty stuffy and had some real intonation challenges in addition to being old, crusty, 3 valve school tubas....

Thanks for follow-up. I wish I knew how old this tuba is. Unfortunately, there's no easy way due to the fire at the Couesnon plant. As for the difficulty playing...never had a problem with this tuba...It was mostly my practice tuba in the mid-80s when I was in high school. It still plays good for what it is. When I was in middle school, I remember I had a choice between a similar 3/4 tuba (don't recall the brand, but it was a 3 valve student model) or a big silver recording tuba (may have been a Reynolds). I found the 3/4 tuba to be stuffy and hard to hear too. So, I opted for the big silver recording tuba. Months later the band director cleaned out a ton of paper that the kids had thrown into the 3/4 tuba...typical middle schoolers!