186 or 188?

[jpwell]

I believe 186 piping curves downstream of 4th valve 188 is straight then 90 degree

[bisontuba]

http://www.daveamason.com/mirafone/cctubas.html" target="_blank

[mclaugh]

By the model number on the bell?

Did I win?

[bisontuba]

I don’t believe a 4v 188 was ever made...also, a Mirafone 186 would be 16.5” bell....

[bisontuba]

Excellent!

[Billy M.]

I had one of those 188s you were talking about, Wade. It was a fine specimen. I sold it so I could get something with a little more breadth in the low end to play for a large concert band and medium sized orchestra.

I honestly regret selling that horn. The intonation was exceptional, the quality of sound was great, and the size of sound was really far better than I gave it credit.

The horn I replaced it with is no longer in my possession, either. My Rudi works REALLY well as my contrabass horn, now. (Intonation is not as point and shoot, but the low range is more manageable, and the sound is superior).

I hope whoever owns that 188 is really happy, they have a damn fine horn.

[bort]

I think they can be a little hard to tell apart in photos, but in person it's pretty easy to tell a 188.

Like Billy, I had an excellent 188 of that era, and sold it. I moved on, but know that if I had kept it all along, I would have been just as happy. I think that when all is said and done, I'll probably own another Miraphone 188. Not yet, but eventually.

[Matt G]

I also owned a 188. Mine was a prior Tommy Johnson (as I was told from the person I bought it from that was a student of his) and was fantastic. Back in the late 1990s, when quasi-cheap bigger horns with pistons started showing up, I sold mine to "upgrade". It needed an overhaul, but it would have been nice to keep it. That horn could get on to tape better than any I've owned since. It also had a 2-3 combo 5th which is way cool (you can play pedal CC with all five if desired - the extra resistance allowed for very soft attacks; low F was 5-2-3 and could sound like ripping sheet metal when pushed). I set the horn up such that you really only needed the fourth valve on rare occasion (Db) and for fast passages, it could be played with 3 valves with reasonable ease. First valve slide just needs to be dialed in.

Tangent: I think someone threw a piston valve set on a 188 at some point in time. I wonder how that was. Probably sucked.

[Tom Gregory]

I’ve been playing 188s since 2007. 1st was yellow, current one is GB. My first personal tuba in 1983 was a 186 4U from 1975. All had or have great pitch and have been a joy to play. I bought the 1st 188 as a back up and found myself turning to it more and more. I use it for brass quintet and almost anything else where I don’t know whom I will be playing with and my big CC might be too much. I did Mahler 1 in May and really considered doing the whole thing on the 188 but the conductor liked “the silver tuba and the little brown tuba”.
Matt, welcome back.

[Matt G]

Thanks, Tom!