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Check the spelling on the bell... This is a Mirafone... There were quite a few differences from the tubas completely produced in Germany and the ones rebuilt in Los Angeles. You won't find a tuba like this one again!

LoyalTubist wrote:Check the spelling on the bell... This is a Mirafone... There were quite a few differences from the tubas completely produced in Germany and the ones rebuilt in Los Angeles.

So I'm stupid I guess, but what's this about some Mira's from Germany and some from LA?

All Miraphone/Mirafone tubas were made in Germany. As is still true today, no Miraphone tuba, euphonium, trombone, etc. was EVER made in the U.S. The MiraFone spelling was completely a designation for instruments sold in the U.S. and what was at that time the U.S. business division/distribution center in California for Miraphone, Germany. When that business relationship was dissolved the German spelling was indicated on ALL instruments.

Richard Murrow wrote: The MiraFone spelling was completely a designation for instruments sold in the U.S.

Kind of what I thought. I heard somewhere that they had to change the spelling because a US electronics company had the copywrite for the name "Miraphone". I was pretty sure they were all made in Germany.

I used to watch them take apart the Mirafone tubas at the plant in Los Angeles and rebuild them. I am not sure what they did, but it did make a difference. Yes, the tubas were all made in Germany. I didn't say they weren't. But the ones that said "Mirafone" seemed to go through a premature overhaul at the Sun Valley plant.

interesting sidebar- this is the same model that Eugene Dowling is pictured with in the liner to the "English Tuba" CD. Nice sound he gets, although he also uses a french-style c tuba (6-valve euphonium-type) on that recording for some of the tracks.