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After all of this "American vs. German" tuba talk, I caught wind of a "German style" bass trombone (Yamaha YBL-605) on *bay.

[Here's the link to Yamaha's site: http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product ... 5/main.htm ]

So, what does "German style" mean in terms of trombones?

Thanks, Wade.

Sounds like it'd be fun to play (or play next to) one of these. I'll take a look on the other site too. If the bidding for the one on *bay wasn't already so high, I might have bid on it. What's a few intonation issues worth anyway? We're tuba players!

One guy who plays and sells both, and will give you the straight bore (pun intended) without trying to sell you something, is Doc Fox @ militarymusician.com, as he played one of the Yammy models for awhile, and is immenently knowledgable of such.

Then there's also Doug Yeo's website.

The German-style trombones are very much still in use, although my frame of reference is playing over there about 10 years ago or so. I used to play with a conservatory brass choir as their contrabass tuba player (1 bass (F), one contrabass (CC)) and really enjoyed the bite and thick, teutonic sound that that ensemble produced. Not only was the style a bit different, but the combination of rotary trumpets with the German-style trombones and tubas really produced a wonderful sound, something we don't generally here on this side of the Atlantic.

I've also seen some German style Yammys that the valve wrap comes off and you can blck it to be a straight horn if you want. The you can put it back. Instant straight horn.It maynot have been on the basses though