On the front bell topic...

[quesonegro]

Cool, I'll check it out!

[Donn]

The Kings are really quite a different instrument than the big Conns (or Martins), aren't they? My sit down tuba is a King with detachable up bell, and it's respectable - versatile, good intonation - but it isn't huge, the valve bore is on the small side, it isn't the special `like a string bass' sonority that these particular extra-big tubas are supposed to have.

[tofu]

http://tubameister.com/2015/06/h-n-whit ... b-3495-00/

We were out at Lee Stofer's place a few weeks ago getting some work done and played the horn above. It totally blew me away. Built in 1942 it is a one piece recording bass. Simply a gorgeous sound - better than anything else he had there including much more expensive horns. I was amazed at how easy it was to hold, blow, balance and play it. It felt much lighter than any two piece King I've every played. Condition wise it is like it was in a time capsule and the horn is like new. The valves were fabulous and the original one piece case is like new and includes the original mouthpiece. This would be a truly exceptional horn for jazz. I so wanted to buy it, but I am loath to give up my helicon for jazz. Contact Lee - he is a stand up guy - he also spent many years in Germany as a US military band guy and I know he knows how to export.

[Greenbenches]

I've had 3 20J's and love them. Perfect tuning is not generally an issue in my group and I've dealt with the "F" the same way that PJV described, by running the main tuning slightly sharp, and some valve slides a bit long. With the 24J having 4 valves, you shouldn't have to compromise as much on the 1st and 3rd slides. It really does need the sousaphone tuning bit.
I've noticed that any dent in the lead pipe definitely affects it's free blowing feel.

[imperialbari]

The final costs for an instrument imported from outside the EU to Germany are calculated like this:

((buying price + shipping + insurance) x 1,037 x 1,19) + the handlig fee for the entity doing the red tape at the German end of the transaction

The import duty varies from 3.2% to 3.7% by parameters unknown to me. I used the upper limit in the sample formula.

German VAT is 19%.

Schwitzerland makes some interesting instruments. It comes as a surprise to many EU citizens that the above formula also goes for Swiss instruments.

Klaus

PS: The formula structure goes for all EU countries, but the duty and VAT percentages vary from country to country.