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Today's prices for the LCB-702: 2.492,00 euros = USD $3,120.72 Shipping will run you another $250.46.

I don't know if Lee Stofer's still carrying them, but he did at one time.

I thought Lee was going to try to get them from Lidl directly. Give him a shout, he'll be honest with you.

I played one at Lee's. Nice horn, Unbelievable good horn for the money. Last I heard he had not been able to make the import thing work but then he got sidetracked with his move. You can email him on on his sponsor site here.

The BBb played very nicely and had a solid, dark sound for a small horn. The CC took a lot more work to get a good sound and felt very different.

I own a Lidl BBb, having purchased it from Lee about two years ago. While it's listed as a 3/4 size tuba, it can put out a lot of sound. In my inexpert opinion, those qualities come from the bore size (.720) and the 16 1/2" bell. The horn is very well made. My understanding is that Lidl made the student french horns sold by the pre-Buffet Besson.

Lidl was distributed here by Geneva International, the US distributor for Petrof, Weinbach and Nordiska pianos, until they dropped their brass/string lines late in 2004. Only the BBb and the CC models were ever imported here. Lidl makes only 60 or so BBb tubas per year and about half were sold in the US/Canada.

They are hard to come by but well worth it if you can snag one.

Check out http://www.hornguys.com/tuba.htm Their site says they can order Lidl tubas. Steve Ferguson is a good guy to work with. These guys took over Tony Clements' Low BrassWerks tuba business.

xyz

Didn't Lidl and their US wholesaler/distributor part ways a year or two ago, so you do now have to have a retailer order direct? I know the website changed at that time.

Not being a tech, I won't try to answer the leadpipe question. Frankly, I don't think there has ever been an Eb version of the Lidl in the US. Most of the horns that were imported were BBb, and there were a few CCs. If I'm wrong, let the owner come forth and speak.

I had some e-mail contact earlier this year with the Lidl folks and they id not seem all that hot to get a US distributor. That may have changed. I do know Steve Ferguson gets his hand on some of their rotary trumpets but I don't think he's ever had one of their tubas (yes. . . I've seen the note on his site).