Interesting 3/4 Tuba

SousaWarrior9 · Post by **SousaWarrior9** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:13 pm

http://www.mtp-music.de/wordpress/en/mt ... ba-junior/" target="_blank

I came across this image the other day, and I'm very curious about this horn.
I'm not familiar with the brand either, MTP.
They claim "Made in Germany" but the looks of the other models just screams Chinese, probably another JinBao importer.
I've never seen anything like it before. Has anyone played one?
It looks so odd and I can't imagine it would play very well with all of that straight-bore tubing but who knows?
If it does play well, it could be a good 'travel tuba' option.
Thoughts?

WC8KCY · Post by **WC8KCY** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:08 am

Looks as though one's fingers would bang against the upper bow when operating the pistons...

hubert · Post by **hubert** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:43 am

MTP is the own product range of Roland Ekle, owner of Musiktreffpunkt at Dettenhausen near Stuttgart in Germany.
As he told me, he has the "bodies" of his instruments made in China (according to his specifications) and adds German valvesets and leadpipes to these. Recently he was experimenting with titanium valves, but I do not know, whether these are already in production.
Ekle started as a professional tubist, who changed to sales, repairs and producing instruments. Over the years he has surrounded himself with a fine team of experts (his repair shop is quite good) .
I am not an MTP-user, but there seems to be a market for these instruments because of the attractive prices (their C tubas are between Euro 2500 and 6300, their B-tubas between Euro 2500 and 5000) combined with a rather nice quality (somewhere between the better Chinese products and the well known Germand brands).
Hubert

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:04 am

The factory is housed in a 8,000 square foot building at this address, Breitwasenring 5 72135 Dettenhausen, Germany. I wouldn't think they could do much more than tweak Chinese instruments in a facility of that size.

hubert · Post by **hubert** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:47 am

Yes, it is not a small business.
Musiktreffpunkt offers sales of a large assortment of instruments, repairs of a broad range of instruments and the MTP-factory.
Hubert

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:24 pm

On the contrary 8,000 square feet does seem small. I don't believe that is nearly enough space to manufacture much of anything from the raw brass, particularly if the building also houses showroom, sales, shipping and storage. They also appear to have a line of woodwinds as well. The bodies must come pre-assembled from somewhere else. China? Kanstul for instance has 4 times that much space just for brass(no woodwind) instrument manufacturing, and they have additional showroom facilities. I would think that they buy instruments from China and then tweak them so they are playable, much as the "bloke" does on occasion. Not that that would be a bad thing. An inexpensive playable instrument is a good thing. The "Made in Germany" moniker puts me off a bit though. "It all depends on what the meaning of the word is , is."

bigtubby · Post by **bigtubby** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:12 pm

KiltieTuba wrote:That leadpipe has two or three feet of tubing!

Hmmm ... maybe enough to be able to easily cut it to CC and still have a tuning slide. This reminds me of a compact version of the Amati "Baby" BBb tubas which actually sound pretty good. A travel size CC would be fun.

hubert · Post by **hubert** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 2:28 am

The instrument reminds me of the times that the main tuning slide (often) was placed between leadpipe and valves (look e.g. at French barytons a.o.). Could that be the case here, too??
Hubert

Three Valves · Post by **Three Valves** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:17 am

SousaWarrior9 wrote:

They claim "Made in Germany" but the looks of the other models just screams Chinese, probably another JinBao importer.

That, and it's hard to beat a 3/4 Dillon/King knock off I played recently for -1k US

Three Valves · Post by **Three Valves** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 9:16 am

SousaWarrior9 wrote:http://www.mtp-music.de/wordpress/en/mt ... ba-junior/" target="_blank

I came across this image the other day, and I'm very curious about this horn.
I'm not familiar with the brand either, MTP.
They claim "Made in Germany" but the looks of the other models just screams Chinese, probably another JinBao importer.
I've never seen anything like it before. Has anyone played one?
It looks so odd and I can't imagine it would play very well with all of that straight-bore tubing but who knows?
If it does play well, it could be a good 'travel tuba' option.
Thoughts?

Looks a lot like a Wessex Stumpy...

http://www.wessex-tubas.com/product/tb219-stumpy/" target="_blank

Donn · Post by **Donn** » Thu Oct 29, 2015 10:22 am

hubert wrote:The instrument reminds me of the times that the main tuning slide (often) was placed between leadpipe and valves (look e.g. at French barytons a.o.). Could that be the case here, too??

Must be, I see nothing else that looks like it could be a main tuning slide.

TubeNet

Interesting 3/4 Tuba

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