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Are you looking for a 653 older model with only 4 valves? or one like the new one I bought?

I thought I heard there was a newer 653 on consignment somewhere. Either way......you should just spring for a new 653. Still about $3200. If you wanted to make it all the way to Lansing michigan you could try mine. I may be the closest one.....who knows.

Good luck!

From the Cerveny website:

"NEWS OF THE FRANKFURT MUSIKMESSE
Dear Mr. Sonnleitner!
I was on Friday in Frankfurt with the music fair. I probably tried instruments on this day a few dozens. Mainly tubes of Miraphone, Meinl, Melton, B&S, in addition, of different American offerers such as Conn and getting Holton. Also with Cerveny I was natural: And that is the reason of my letter. The CERVENY F-tuba CFB 661-6GPRX was the best F-tuba on the whole fair. The most expensive instruments of B&S and Miraphone could keep up straight times in such a way!!! And that, although the Cerveny costs only somewhat more as half than the others!!! With the b-tubes the CERVENY EMPEROR TUBA COMPACT MODEL CBB 793-5RX could keep up also with the best ones of the others, with importantly better price/achievement relationship!! And also the CERVENY EMPEROR TUBA CBB 691-4R was inspiring. However I wish myself for a large Sinfonieorchester rather the 5-valve variant, for which "normal use" is one with the 691-4R however in the best way served! Love of greetings from the in the meantime springful Karlsruhe in the probably still winter Bad Goisern
Your Peter Pacher"

Cheers

Bob1062 wrote:maybebump?

I'm tellin ya! You need to find your way around mid-michigan. Then you can get some toots off of mine.

Bob, use some of your Guard Band $$ and just spring for one. Negotiate a bit with the shop and ask them if you can return it if it's not what you expected. These things sell very quickly, not only because of the price point, but also because they play like a dream. Just go for it.
I love mine, so does my trombone-playing duet partner. She loves the way the F works out tone-wise with the trombones. Somehow the 3050 is just too "present" and all-consuming to work out in that setting . . .

jonesbrass wrote:Bob, use some of your Guard Band $$ and just spring for one. Negotiate a bit with the shop and ask them if you can return it if it's not what you expected. These things sell very quickly, not only because of the price point, but also because they play like a dream. Just go for it.
I love mine, so does my trombone-playing duet partner. She loves the way the F works out tone-wise with the trombones. Somehow the 3050 is just too "present" and all-consuming to work out in that setting . . .

yes just buy it...............

Bob1062 wrote:That I surely would, except... I don't get my (reserves actually) money til after I finish basic and I won't be going til April. On the upside, I'll get 13 weeks of active duty pay and my bonus then.

[ramble]I still am considering a big Eb instead of a contrabass. If I do that I'll still want a small, cheap rotary F for some stuff. If I do go for a contrabass, I'll probably get a nicer F (theoretically old 4 valve 653 vs. new 5 valver). I will be going to Midwest this year (last year didn't work out), and hopefully I should be able to play all the horns I am interested in fairly close to each other (2141, 3400; 191, 1291, maybe Fafner).[/ramble]

I have reasonably large Eb's, but I don't find, that they can fulfil the function of a contrabass tuba, at least not a 4/4 version of the latter.

A search on the sites of 3 reasonably large tuba retailers, too of them not extremely far from you, gave no result for your model of choice. But the situation hardly is better on my continent. No samples available in shops in my country. A few German shops may have one. My late F-tuba friend went on holiday in Prague around 1998 and found one single music shop having a few new brasses in store, but no tubas.

Trying out tubas before buying isn't that easy anywhere in the world, if you don't go for mainstream student instruments.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Bob1062 wrote:That I surely would, except... I don't get my (reserves actually) money til after I finish basic and I won't be going til April. On the upside, I'll get 13 weeks of active duty pay and my bonus then.

Sounds like you could have one soon. Go for a new 5 valve. You won't regret it.