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goodgigs wrote:...He also built a contra bass French horn...

It was designed by George Strucel and built by Minick.

Bobo's Contrabass trombone is/was a Conn; it has an added valve which may be by Minick. His Cimbasso, however is a Minick original.

J.c.S.

J.c. Sherman wrote:Bobo's Contrabass trombone is/was a Conn; it has an added valve which may be by Minick. His Cimbasso, however is a Minick original.

J.c.S.

I know Bobo's was Conn, but im pretty sure Minick made a contrabone at some point of time.

Sorry; I misread

He made at leasr on G Contrabass and a BBb; the G actually made it to Cleveland once.

J.c.S.

J.c. Sherman wrote:Sorry; I misread

He made at leasr on G Contrabass and a BBb; the G actually made it to Cleveland once.

J.c.S.

Was the G dual rotor?

TheHatTuba wrote:

J.c. Sherman wrote:Bobo's Contrabass trombone is/was a Conn; it has an added valve which may be by Minick. His Cimbasso, however is a Minick original.

J.c.S.

I know Bobo's was Conn, but im pretty sure Minick made a contrabone at some point of time.

He made more than one in G. Let's see if Steve Ferguson will chime in. He has one of them, with dual inline valves, and knows a lot about those contras. Also, if I remember correctly Minick made one or two real monsters in Bb with dual slide and dual valves, one for Jeffrey Reynolds. That one was for sale a couple of years ago through Hornguys. I was very close to have my orchestra buy it, but they refused in the last moment.

Just as interesting, and with a bit more info, are this guy's horns-
http://www.robbstewart.com/OtherProjects/

He made a Conn 71h with a 12" bell. When asks why, he said, "If big is better, mine's the best!" Hear tell, JJ Johnson ended up with that horn. When he was in Santa Monica, he made another 71h with THREE in line valves. The 3rd(?) valve was a 1/2 step valve. He made me the FIRST fluba, which is a Bb flugelhorn, bent to look like a tuba. I used it in my Tubachrismases. He also made me an F contra trumpet with 4 valves. When I sent it back for adjustments, it mysteriously disappeared, then he died. His interest in old hot rods was evident in this instrument; there were flames on the bell, facing the player. Have NO idea where that horn ended up. He was also working on a full double tuba in CC/F. I played the CC bugle (no valves). He was on the right track. He was quite a character, all right. You knew he like you when you walked into his shop and he greeted you with, "What the f*** do YOU want?" I spent the day with him about a week before he passed. The cancer had rendered him very weak and frail, but he gave a very strong appearance and was funny as hell until the end. I still miss him ...

I wish I had at least met him, but I didn't even hear about him (that I remember) until after he was gone. I'm enjoying the 20J "Minickized" tuba that recently came into my possession.

He built a double slide twin rotor Contrabass Trombone in the late 1980's that the
Bethlehem PA Moravian Trombone Choir bought,
Larry didn't like the sound in BBb,
so He changed it to CC, our first player used it that way,
the second guy to play it was a BBb player,
so He took it up to Nazareth Music,
and had them add four six inch pieces to the double slide,
putting it back into BBb, the Minick CBT is off line right now,
and I've been playing My Miraphone BBb CBT since 2007.
I will hunt around for a picture of it.

Tuba-G Bass wrote:He built a double slide twin rotor Contrabass Trombone in the late 1980's that the
Bethlehem PA Moravian Trombone Choir bought,
Larry didn't like the sound in BBb,
so He changed it to CC, our first player used it that way,
the second guy to play it was a BBb player,
so He took it up to Nazareth Music,
and had them add four six inch pieces to the double slide,
putting it back into BBb, the Minick CBT is off line right now,
and I've been playing My Miraphone BBb CBT since 2007.
I will hunt around for a picture of it.

NO NO NO Tell me it's not true!
I played that that Minick CC contra in Jeff Reynolds Moravian Trombone Choir in the 1980's and it was the best contrabass I have ever played. I also played Larry's BBb (it was very good) but the CC was GREAT. It was a very special horn, what a tragedy that it was changed

Norm Pearson

Norm,
I feel your pain, Larry was a Master at this stuff,
and If He thought it was better as a CC, We should respect that.
I think it's just a simple case of unsoldering the
four six inch extensions on the double slide.

I am going to got to the bottom [Heh!] of it's present condition,
I think it hasn't been played in public in a decade.

Just found a Minick contra on the net.

Its quicker to click on "bass trombones". Its the 13th advertisement. For hornporn ya'll have to go to the site. This is the text. Cheers, Pat


Larry Minick Contrabass Trombone
The second of two contrabass trombones made by the legendary brass maker, Larry Minick. This is an epic trombone! I'm totally enamored with it and the sound that comes out of it, which is stunning to hear and play. Larry made this instrument after the first one (which was used by Jeff Reynolds in the LA phil). I've played that first instrument and I think this 2nd one is much better. It's a BBb contra with double slide and valves to F and D. Unlike the Miraphone BBb contra, this horn has a 2nd valve... so it plays exactly like a normal dependent bass trombone down an octave. The bell is really cool. It's made in two pieces with the back bow being hand bent and the flare being brazed on. I'm not sure if Larry used a mandrel or did this free form. Rotary valves appear to be bored out 62H valves. The double slide is very well done and works good for having 4 slide tubes. There is a removable Minick leadpipe. This is a unique instrument and might be the best playing BBb contra I've come across. It's also about the coolest looking trombone ever, $8500 with tuxedo gig bag and modified tuba mouthpiece. SALE PENDING

I also had a chance to play it....years ago. Fun stuff.

Roger just used a tuba mpc on it. One could argue whether or not its a horn at all. For example, one of the aspects that gives a horn its sound is the archaic relationship of a small bore/small mpc axe with (proportionally) 2x the amount of tubing length (compared to the rest of the modern brass).

To achieve this, one would expect a mpc size somewhere between a trumpet and a trombone and a comparable bore size. But that was the deal. Roger wanted to play it with a tuba mpc, so thats the way it was made.

Still, a well made instrument.

-Pat

KiltieTuba wrote: wonder how the hand-stopping works?

Catcher's mitt?

The Bobo Bass Horn plays really well with near perfect intonation. I didn't find it to have a lot of resistance compared to valve trombones and other valved cylindrical bass instruments. Since the body of the bass horn is conical, that helps reduce the resistance whereas the cylindrical bass instruments have the most resistance.

To me the Bobo Contrabass Trumpet has a LOT of resistance and after playing the Bobo contratrumpet for 15 mins it feels like having played on a tuba for 10 hours. If you pick up a tuba (after playing the contratrumpet) the tuba seems very easy and instantly easier to play. It's a similar effect as with an exercise bicycle. After reducing the resistance, the ride is instantly easier.

Hi,
There are two Minick instruments in Edmonton, Alberta.
1) Bb soprano trombone
2) G contrabass trombone, two valve - I have a great photo of Jeff Reynolds and another player,
holding their respective twin G contras.

Hmmm, why a Contra in G and not in F?

_pat

The G uses a regular bass trombone slide, I believe, though an F with a bass slide can work.
I like the idea of an independent bass trombone with the stock bell section stretched to make a modern bore G bass, that'd be useful for English pieces with large bore brass and as a heavy bass (with a larger mouthpiece) for certain pieces. If my bass was an indy I'd have had it done long ago.