TubeNet

Is this a chinese helicon?
Anybody seen one in person?
Have they made it to the states yet?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Bb-HELIKON-Tuba- ... 5d271dbbd5" target="_blank

I think they are Indian in origin.
I have not seen one in person and may be wrong.

sousaphone68 wrote:I think they are Indian in origin....

+1 RUN!

I'm just guessing: India. Note 14.5mm bore (0.57 in), which is in euphonium territory, though it evidently is a BBb helicon. This is a hallmark of Indian engineering - because India is so much more populous, each person is expected to get by on less air, hence smaller bore instruments.

Yes, I see that the seller also offers echo-bell cornet reproductions, which seem to be popular in India.
So, why no Chinese helicon as of yet? They seem to be having fun with other obscure brass, like alto trombones, contrabass trombones, travel tubas, and cimbassi.

If American or European importers would place orders of magnitudes making it worthwhile to tool up, the Chinese would make look-alikes of any musical instrument.

The bell ferrule of this present helicon screams India.

Whenever German sellers recommend instruments as well fit for Guggenmusik, then stay away. Guggenmusik is played during the carnival season. It has its very own style. Sound and intonation are not important parameters.

I wouldn't imagine much new tooling would have to be made to market a BBb helicon. Sousaphone parts plus a bell used with one of the tubas and designing details to put 'em all together.

imperialbari wrote:If American or European importers would place orders of magnitudes making it worthwhile to tool up, the Chinese would make look-alikes of any musical instrument.

The bell ferrule of this present helicon screams India.

Whenever German sellers recommend instruments as well fit for Guggenmusik, then stay away. Guggenmusik is played during the carnival season. It has its very own style. Sound and intonation are not important parameters.

I concur with it being Indian - I think the last time we saw this horn it was directly on an Indian website.

As for Guggenmusik - as I understand the tradition the goal is to have slight imperfections in the music, much like Japanese pottery usually has some deliberate flaw or irregularity. The end result, musically is to be more like a typical US High School Pep Band or a few University "scatter bands" than anything else. Many of the bands play year-round at sporting events and summer festivals, and there are a lot of these bands in certain parts of Europe.

One of the bands I am in is somewhat like Guggenmusik groups (both costumes and performance levels) that we have often been asked by German, Swiss and Austrian tourists if we are Guggen!

Yes, now we're talking about my kind of musical performance! Indeed, those imperfections you hear aren't mistakes, they're quite intentional!

As for the long (not) awaited Chinese BBb helicon - apparently the demand for new (and reasonably playable) BBb helicons is completely saturated by Červený. I wonder if it's just that they don't have big enough boxes in China.