TubeNet

A most interesting view:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 3739655673

I never saw anything like this documented anywhere else. Hence my breach of the TubaNet decorum concerning auction postings.

I don't know the seller, I am not involved in the auction, and I don't endorse anything connected to it.

Klaus

Klaus,
This particular horn was made for David Witt, a guy who I served with in the military, by the Rudolf Meinl factory to his specifications in the late 80's or early 90's. He is a brass band fan and was convinced that the pinkie wasn't as strong as the rest of the fingers on the right hand, hence the 4th and 5th Valve on the left hand. The 5th valve was a flat whole step. Dave was stationed in Germany at the time of the production and moved to the states where he sold the horn outright to, I believe, the WW&BW. He said it was a little hard to handle pitch wise. I will alert him to this post, he may be able to shed more light on it.

As far as the sellers contention that more than one of these was made for the US Army Bands in Europe in that time frame, I can only guess as to that as this horn was custom made and quite expensive. I am not sure that the US Army would cough up that kind of bread to buy what was, in effect, a one of a kind instrument. I remember Dave saying that the horn took a long time to build. I have a picture of Dave with this particular instrument. Hope this helped.

Chuck