Everett Gilmore's BBb Alex

[Ed Jones]

Grandma was the old Mirafone 186 BBb. The Cerveny would have never fit into that bag. The bag for the Cerveny is a very early Altieri, light blue in color.

[Eric B]

All of this talk about Mr. Gilmore's various tubas is a sidebar.

The obvious thing that comes through in this thread is how universally this man was liked and loved by those who knew him.

Yes. I set out to try to locate an old tuba for a friend. I haven't tracked down the tuba, but I have certainly been touched by the many endearing comments about Everett Gilmore. It's wonderful how a post can morph into something far more significant than its original intended purpose. I will continue to enjoy reading your stories and I may even stumble upon Alexander #2 in the process.

[Eric B]

Wade,

I just did a gig with my friend, Alex. He told me that he just posted a picture on his Facebook account. This photo was shot in Germany in the early 1960's after he purchased his BBb Alexander while in the service. This is the horn that Everette Gilmore purchased after his other Alexander was stolen from his VW bus.

Here is a quote from an e-mail that Alex sent me. I am nostolgic about things like this.

"It was taken in 1960 in the army barracks at Bad Kreuznach, Germany, apparently around Christmas time since there are Christmas cards on the wall behind. I was in the 8th Infantry Band at the time. We had a great 50 piece band and played all over Germany and made trips to Luxemburg, Belgium and went to France one time to play a concert in Leon, France. The 7th Army Symphony normally played this concert but they were understrengh, so much they couldn't play a concert. This event was to celebrate 4th of July Independence Day. This was the only town in Europe that celebrated our independance day and the Ambassedor to France was in attendance. We had a great time playing for the Germans and others during the 2 years I was there."

[tbn.al]

Not knowing Mr. Gilmore, I googled him and found this. What an interesting life.

http://music.unt.edu/instrumental/tuba/ ... lmore.html" target="_blank

[bigboymusic]

It's funny how the timing works with these things sometimes. I just purchased the Alex (#1 I think) from a student at LSU. It should be in the KC area within the week. I own a CC alex 163 and a couple e flats, but I have always been looking for a used Alex B flat. When I was growing up in Naperville, Il, there was a director in town that had one that was the UGLIEST thing I had ever seen. But as usual, he sounded GREAT. I think his name was Karl Diehl. As I get older, I like playing Bflat again sometimes if it fits the work. I'm sure this horn will fit in just fine. Just curious, do we know who removed the bottom bow guard? I'll post some photos when it gets here.

[bigboymusic]

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Here are a couple angles of the horn I just purchased from the Elephant's student.

[oedipoes]

that is a very beautiful kaiser tuba !!

Wim

[bigboymusic]

I will probably do nothing to this horn. I have played an Alex CC forever, and play eflats for solo stuff. But I decided that I was going back to B flat playing. I don't do enough Orchestral playing to want the CC fingers all the time. And I LOVE this horn. It plays better than any big horn I have owned. The range is fantastic and I love being able to crank a pedal CC on a B flat tuba! I was very lucky to have come across this horn. This is surely my midlife crisis. No convertable here.

Any rec's from the group on a MP? It came with a large shank Elliot (nice MP), but I want to experiment a bit.

[Tom]

I will probably do nothing to this horn. I have played an Alex CC forever, and play eflats for solo stuff. But I decided that I was going back to B flat playing. I don't do enough Orchestral playing to want the CC fingers all the time. And I LOVE this horn. It plays better than any big horn I have owned. The range is fantastic and I love being able to crank a pedal CC on a B flat tuba! I was very lucky to have come across this horn. This is surely my midlife crisis. No convertable here.

Any rec's from the group on a MP? It came with a large shank Elliot (nice MP), but I want to experiment a bit.

Slightly off course, but what mouthpiece do you play on your Alex CC?

[oedipoes]

question for the board:

Is this a 163 BBb or a 164 ?
Difficult to see from the pictures...

thx!

Wim

[bigboymusic]

163 I think. I play a Schilke H II on the CC, but it has a slightly smaller receiver than the BB.....The B flat receiver is VERY large.....

[bigboymusic]

Yes, my CC has pretty heavy gauge brass, while this horn is very light. That said, and I'm sure the elephant will agree, the thinner brass in this model in NO way takes away from the great Alex sound. There are a couple patches on the leadpipe, and the one on the first slide, but again, it does not matter. I have a friend with a Fafner and this horn goes toe to toe. I am also a geek about lineage (sp?) aka. the history. I was one of the crazies in the 80's and early 90's that continued to play B flat well into college and out in the 'real world'. I didn't really stay with CC until I found this particular Alex CC (that I actually just sold to a student). I think you see more acceptance of the B flat today than then. I'm sure some of it is the quality of some of the B flats in recent years. I just wish i had found this one 20 years ago. I'll post some more indepth pictures when the batteries recharge.

[Tom]

I know this is an old thread, but I needed to add to the record...

This summer I purchased an ex-Everett Gilmore Alexander 163 BBb. This one is a 4 valve, with clock-springs, and was originally lacquer (it's still 'kinda' there). This instrument was sold by Everett Gilmore in 1992 to a niece of a longtime Dallas Symphony double bass player. That young person took it with them to college, played it there in the late 1990s, at a couple Tuba Christmas concerts and then didn't touch it again for about 18 years. This tuba was, unfortunately, not terribly well cared for and will take a lot of careful restoration work to get it back into top condition. It is playable but needs "help." The student didn't have a hard case, ever, and this tuba came to me in a rotted Tuxedo bag that I had to toss.

With it, I received a copy of a hand written letter, dated Sept. 9, 1992, that Everett Gilmore sent to the mother of the young owner when he sold this tuba. In it, it contains the following:

It is an Alexander, model # 163 in the key of Bb (BBb, with four rotary ("clock-spring") valves, manufactured in 1960 at Mainz, Germany. I bought it from the original owner a few years ago; my repair work and modifications (to slides; and "vents") were performed by Stephan Garmon of the C&S Music store in Arlington, Texas [the "Six Flags" store on Rte. 360]

-Everett Gilmore

Dave Kirk is another major Alexander guy and knew of this particular tuba. His recollection was this:

Wow - it's a shame to see this horn in this condition. I'm thinking this is the Alex BBb Ev played w/DSO from (approx) the late 80's until his retirement. I remember the horn having workable pitch, and a characteristic tone. Ev somehow got the horn on a DSO European tour - there was something about getting from an English boys school, and it had obviously not been used very much.

The Dallas Symphony's first European tour was in 1985. It is possible that this tuba was indeed purchased by Everett Gilmore during that tour, but that point remains unclear. All I know for sure, based on Ev's letter, is that it was (as of 1992) "purchased a few years ago from the original owner."

Based on the discussion here, this tuba is not the one that came out of East Texas, was owned by Wade, etc. as it has had no repair work or modifications done (aside from what I mentioned above that Ev had done). It is also definitely not tuba #3 (the 5 valve gold brass one) that was mentioned. It could be tuba #1, but that wouldn't jive with some of the other ownership claims and stories of previous owners posted here. Or, it could be none of these tubas and could instead be tuba #4 which wasn't ever discussed here.

I also have a Alexander 163 CC (1980s vintage). I actually like the BBb better.

[josh_kaprun]

Grandma was the old Mirafone 186 BBb. The Cerveny would have never fit into that bag. The bag for the Cerveny is a very early Altieri, light blue in color.

I currently own that Cerveny (I replaced the bag with a custom Cronkite to give it some actual protection, though). Hands down the best BBb tuna I have ever laid hands on. If anyone knows more of the history of this horn, I would love to hear it. All I know is that it was a prototype that was smuggled out of the CSSR in either the late 1960's or 70's and that Mr. Gilmore used it a lot with the Dallas Symphony.

[the elephant]

Regarding the horn in question:

I removed the bottom bow guard, and the bell was swapped from my CC 163. The horn had been banged up over the decades and I could not yet de-dent bow guards back then. When I removed and de-dented the naked bottom bow of the tuba and fixed a two-inch crack, I wanted to make the bow guard look nice, too. I FUBAR-ed it, though. (It was my first try doing this sort of repair, as I was still apprenticing at that time.) So I used a Conn guard wire in its place, thinking I might be able to con Alexander into making me a new one. Short answer: in 1997 they were unwilling to do this. (They will nowadays,) So the horn was put back together as you found it. I cannot vouch for whatever work may have been done to it since I sold it to Steve.

I also removed the clockspring levers and S links and replaced them with a set of Miraphone 186 spiral spring levers (which are a good bit smaller, so you can verify this pretty easily) and made some new ball-and-socket linkages for it. I was considering going back to BBb in the orchestra in order to play this tuba at work. The bell on my CC 163 was in a little better condition (and only two years different in age) so I swapped them, I considered swapping the guards or the entire bottom bow assemblies, but sold it before I could do this. I still have the clock spring system. No, I will not be selling it anytime soon. (Sorry.)

I kept the CC for twelve years, from 1995 through 2007, trading it for my Holton 345. I have lost touch with Steve but recently discovered where he currently works and was going to look him up and ask about this very nice, old BBb Alex. I just stumbled across this old thread and decided to inject this bit of the horn's history for the OP.

The bottom bow guard is a simple fix if you can get Gebr. Alexander to make a replacement. The bottom bow will need to be fully de-dented and the two parts must be shaped to fit together very closely. Once to that point, it can be wired in place and soldered on. Do not take it to a novice as the very thin Alexander metal will warp under the extended heat of the torch as it is installed and the tech will chase his tail trying to get it on the horn without gaps.

This tuba (1959) and my CC (1958) both were eggshell-thin, the BBb weighing about 17.5 pounds and the CC right at 17. Both were made completely from hand-hammered and seamed sheet brass and were paper thin. This is a feature, not a bug, as they say. Both horns played quite well, but had typical Alexander intonation, with the BBb. being much better, overall, with that slightly deeper tone that BBb tubas have most of the time, which is why I nearly sold my CC and switched to this tuba back then. In the end, I am a lazy slob and decided to stick with CC because it was easier.