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Has anyone ever tried making one? If so, how'd it play?

http://www.dwerden.com/talk/forum/messa ... eadid=2763" target="_blank

One may argue that the now obsolete French C tuba was a C euphonium despite a different valve lay-out and maybe a larger bore in some parts of the bugle.

Today Amati makes a piston C euphonium. I have felt no urge to find one for testing.

I have an oval Kaiserbariton in C stamped Eser of Gütersloh. It is huge, it is fun, but sadly it only has 3 valves. It very likely is a stencil made by Cerveny.

From time to time German and French eBays offer dual pitched Saxhorn basses in C and Bb. They are easily recognised by their very long main tuning slides in their leadpipes. There is a long insert to be removed for the pitch of C. The samples I have seen appear to have been made for church use, where the C pitch allowed for reading from the organ score or from the hymn book without transposing the melody.

Klaus

Miraphone makes a C Kaiser Baritone, their model:

C-kaiserbaritone, upright, 4 valves
C-56A
- bell diameter 310 mm (12,205 inch)
- rotary valves
- bore of valve section conical 14,7 - 16,2 mm (0,579 - 0,638 inch)
- spiral spring system
- mouthpiece BT05

I recently got one of these for a friend of mine and he has been enjoying playing it. It looks lik a mini 186 C tuba. It eliminates the need for keeping Bb fingerings fresh when switching.

Roger

TheHatTuba wrote:Has anyone ever tried making one? If so, how'd it play?

I sat next to a guy once who had a Marzan cut down to 'C' (aka Willson 2975). Don't know who did the cutting, but there were some serious intonation issues with that horn.

TheHatTuba wrote:Has anyone ever tried making one? If so, how'd it play?

I played a (name brand withheld) French tuba, if that counts. It lacked the beauty of sound that the euphonium has, particularly in the upper register. In the low register it lacked either the focus of a bass trombone or the resonance of CC or even F tuba.

The intonation was strange, nothing was predictable.

The piston valves (3 + 3) were awkwardly angled.

I would have bought it except for all that.

I owned one of these for two years and sometimes played it in brass quintet instead of my valved trombone.

http://www.cerveny.biz/bariton/cep_534_4m.php" target="_blank

Nice horn, well-made, lovely sound. Affordable.

Ace wrote:I owned one of these for two years and sometimes played it in brass quintet instead of my valved trombone.

http://www.cerveny.biz/bariton/cep_534_4m.php" target="_blank" target="_blank

Nice horn, well-made, lovely sound. Affordable.

How was the workmanship on your Cerveny CC Euphonium, CEP 434-4A, particularly the slides?

Aren't these C instruments targeted in general for the Spanish band market?

My 1891 Highams 5v was originally in C;

http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k309/ ... =itea2.jpg" target="_blank

converted to B flat long before I got it.

Hawkes listed Euphoniums in B flat, A & C in their catalogues.

CB

Highams wrote:My 1891 Highams 5v was originally in C;

http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k309/ ... =itea2.jpg" target="_blank" target="_blank

converted to B flat long before I got it.

Hawkes listed Euphoniums in B flat, A & C in their catalogues.

CB

These three pitches are interesting as they were the same three Arban recommended for cornet. Selmer made a cornet with 2 extension pieces allowing for the pitches of C, B natural, Bb, and A.

Some of the Arban theme and variation pieces have original piano accompaniments calling for A cornet.

The euphonium was a popular solo instrument around 1900, even if the cornet likely was even more popular. Both were well suited for the popular park concerts.

Klaus

My 1871 J. Gras 5v euph was also offered in C. Both Bb and C versions were offered with 5 or 6 valves.

I've seen a Courtois or Couesnon (not sure which) Bb euph that was cut to C. I believe the long leadpipe/tuning slide was replaced with a much shorter (slideless) one and a small part of the bugle (after the valves) was converted into a tuning slide. I'm pretty sure this was how Courtois and Couesnon made their Bb and C versions so I'm sure it worked. I'm sorry to say I didn't get the chance to try the creation.

Here's one for sale right now. This was the same style horn I saw cut to C.

http://cgi.ebay.com/WONDERFUL-OLD-FRENC ... 45f82460c8" target="_blank

Dean E wrote:

Ace wrote:I owned one of these for two years and sometimes played it in brass quintet instead of my valved trombone.

http://www.cerveny.biz/bariton/cep_534_4m.php" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Nice horn, well-made, lovely sound. Affordable.

How was the workmanship on your Cerveny CC Euphonium, CEP 434-4A, particularly the slides?

I had the horn quite a few years ago, so my memory is a bit vague. Overall, the construction and finish were very good, but I think I remember the C main was not properly aligned with the sleeves. It was a chore to get the slide in and out. Strangely, the Bb main went in and out OK. The strength of this model was its gorgeous tone. The four rotary valves were a dream of smoothness and silence.

Ace wrote:I had the horn quite a few years ago, so my memory is a bit vague. Overall, the construction and finish were very good, but I think I remember the C main was not properly aligned with the sleeves. It was a chore to get the slide in and out. Strangely, the Bb main went in and out OK. The strength of this model was its gorgeous tone. The four rotary valves were a dream of smoothness and silence.

Two comments from an old grumpy man:

If only the C slide caused problems, the female receivers on the Bariton itself must have been well aligned. The C slide could probably have been fixed quite easily.

The nice words words on tone and valves usually are a code telling about bad intonation.

Klaus