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I need a little advice. I am considering bidding on a Sousaphone without having the opportunity to play test it. It is too far to drive considering that gas is trading higher than gold ! ! It is a yamaha YSH-411WC. It appears to be in good condition judging from the pictures. Without having any way of telling the condition of the slides, valves and neck, what is the most you would risk bidding on this item? These retail at $5200. Here are a couple of pictures of the horn. This is a very reliable seller.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1261/570 ... 98.jpg?v=0

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1111/570 ... 20.jpg?v=0

If it is not a pre-Macmillian Conn or a pre-cyborg King, don't bother. Nothing else, except the occasional rare beast like a Martin Mammoth, has the tone or durability required of a sousaphone. Everything else is a pig in a poke.

If you want a pretty, new looking, good playing sousa check out Harv Hartman, who lurks and occasionally posts here as "Harvey Hartman". Here is a link to one of his recent eBay auctions that shows the kind of work he does and also contains his contact info: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :FSEL:US:1 Guy does nice work and seems to specialize in renewing some of the best old American horns.

Eric "agreeing with iiip's advice and a former Conn 32K owner" L.

Burpinjello wrote:This is from a government auction and if you read the data points they say the condition is irreparable.

EDIT: looks like you posted in the wrong thread, Jello. Try this one?: viewtopic.php?t=22097

Eric "confused" L.

Yeah I realized I got it mixed up later and tried to edit again, but I guess it didn't save.

Eric "who might take a Yammie sousa for free, maybe" L.

You are all very savvy. That indeed was from http://cgi.govliquidation.com/auction/v ... vertTo=USD

I was considering purchasing the horn, then flipping it on ebay for a profit. I didn't want to risk spending more than $500. If I were to purchase a marching tuba for myself, it would have to be an old Conn 20K or a pretty helicon! People are a bit too proud of those when they price them IMHO .

The high bid was $1,275.00 which is much higher than I wanted to pay for a Yamaha Sousaphone.

If you do your homework and really know what you're looking at when you check out auctions on eBay you can get some really good deals. So far I have faired pretty well. If you look at the six horns on the left in the photo in my signature, I bought all of them on eBay. I spent a total of $7200 for all 6 of them. A Holton 345 BBb (being restored by Dan Oberloh), a really nice silver York-Master BBb, a 1923 Keefer Eb, a nice old 1895 Conn Eb, a fabulous gold plated 1927 Conn 38K in mint condition, and a 1926 Conn 30K helicon that needs a little fixing up. Plus I got a York model 716 (stenciled as a Blessing) for $900 a few months ago. So if you know what you want and are patient you can find some very good deals.

I agree you can get great deals on eBay, but ONLY if you do extensive homework. Among my eBay finds include a Besson 1969 2-20 trumpet, including the case, original mouthpiece, lyre and leather lace up valve block cover for $76 including shipping. The rare occurance I need to play trumpet, it is great. The only thing "wrong" with it was it was "stuffy." Well, when I got it home, the guy who had it, who bought it new, played it in school band for awhile then relegated it to the attic, had inadvertently switched valves #2 & 3 around. Now, including turning the main tuning slide upside down to counter the water key having been put in the wrong position and causing intonation problems, which is now a well known quirk and an easy fix, it plays great. Really great. As good as any $1500 to $2000 trumpet.

I got a Bach CR300 beginner cornet for my son for $145 including shipping. All it needed was a $45 repair to get a dent out of the leadpipe. This cornet new is well, well over $1000 now, even street price. I even play it occasionally, it's that good a cornet.

My 1971 Besson tuba is the same way. It looks like hell. It does now need a couple of leaks resoldered as the solder has deteriorated after over 35 years of hard use and abuse. But I got it home for $411 including shipping, the valves are in great shape, and it is a great tuba.

But for every great deal as has been posted here, there are 100+ horror stories of people getting less than they thought they were bidding on, or outright fraud. Needle in a haystack. Caveat Emptor Maximus. But good deals are out there.

A pair of brass Sousaphones recently sold on e-bay for $28.00 for the pair, plus an additional upright bell. Of course I missed them, but it does happen sometimes. These were from a TGIF fridays store that was being sold off. They of course needed work, but I bet they were worth that in scrap value.

Steve