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Has anyone had any experience with an OLD Holton 4 valve front action BBb with a detachable recording bell? I will post some pictures tomorrow. Any feedback would be great. I believe the horn is from the early 1910-1920. I dont see a lot of old Holton horns for sale with detachable bells anymore. I'm sure they are out there, just wanted to know if there was any interesting facts about these.

A

I still have my old Holton 350 bell front BBb. My first horn It was sitting under 10+ years of black tarnish, so last week I polished it up and greased/oiled the valves and slides. Same model as the last pic posted by KiltieTuba, except in silverplate and with all functioning parts. Checked the serial# and it was made sometime in 1967. I forgot how easy it was to "puff" notes at pretty much any dynamic level and how good it is at fast runs/scales. Amazingly agile for it's size. Produces a huge beautiful sound with a certain transparency and buoyancy I really wish conductors would be open to the bell front tubas again cuz they sound so good.

Here is another Holton bell front model which may be older:




http://www.horn-u-copia.net/picture.php ... n-tuba.jpg" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

You can buy a one piece replacement upright bell for it from Kanstul. Ed

^ I'd rather keep it as a detachable bell front. I like being able to move the "periscope" bell side to side and want to keep the vintage Holton sound. I used to move/aim the bell to my front-right for indoor concerts so the sound would bounce off the auditorium walls and not be aimed directly at the conductor. Sounded good on those @15-year-old taped performances from late middle school and high school. If I had the money, I'd try to get a custom detachable upright bell made for it. That way I'd have the option of bell front or upright bell.

I hope tubaplyer gives us an update tomorrow.

Here are the pictures tell me what you think! The serial goes back to 1929 if my research is correct.

Great tuba! Yes, they are under-appreciated. I don't believe the poster above was trying to get you to change totally to a bell front, but simply to add an upright bell to have with the recording bell in the arsenal, to make the tuba even more flexible. I have both a recording bell and upright bell for my 186, and both get used with the various gigs I play during the year.

The tinkerer in me has to wonder if that 1st valve circuit can be "flipped" so you have a usable slide for your left hand as necessary....

@ KiltieTuba

I will look into one of those detachable upright Kanstul bells Lee has for sale when I have the money. The Holton's detachable front-bell has a collar of about 8.30" inches....just measured it. Dunno if any of those Kanstul bells have the same measurement though...

@tubaplyer

Your tuba looks nice. How does it play? I think you have the 4 valve version of the Holton I linked earlier in the thread. Very rare tuba

iiipopes wrote:Great tuba! Yes, they are under-appreciated. I don't believe the poster above was trying to get you to change totally to a bell front, but simply to add an upright bell to have with the recording bell in the arsenal, to make the tuba even more flexible.

I think having both the front bell and upright bell would be awesome!

Lovely tone, nice intonation easy to blow. The attack is spot on. I absolutely love the way it plays!

Does my heart good to see the old Holtons again -- just beautiful!