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A few days ago, I had the opportunity to acquire a Bohland & Fuchs 4/4 B-Tuba from a guy in Germany. I was told it dates from the 1930s and was then sold as Modell Solist (a.o. recognisable from the extra broad "Neusilberrand"). From a far from fully readable inscription in that "Neusilberrand", I have the impression that it could have been made for an army band (I read the letters HMK= probably Heeres Musik Korps, followed by and unreadable number and besides that a kind of inventory number). B&F was closed as a company in 1945, so the instrument has to be produced before that date, I would say. I will try to get some more information about the production years of this model. If anyone can help with this, I would be very grateful.

Height of the tuba is ca. 103 cm, diameter of bell 38,5 cm. It weights (only) 8.0 kilo (all parts handmade...). It is fully original, no repairs (except removal of dents and renewal of a few solderings), no changes or additions.
It plays great with a dark, but very singing, and what I would call "crisp" voice.
I hope you will enjoy some pics of it.


https://picasaweb.google.com/1066729494 ... 9647000722

Hubert

Extra nice!

Sweet

Very cool!

Holy cow! I hope I look that good at 80+ years!

Nice tuba!

Looks a bit like the smaller/younger brother of my (unbranded, but probably also B&F) kaiser tuba.

Beautiful tuba! Bet it has a sound to match it's looks

Hello Oidipous,
Agree: yours must be a Bohland & Fuchs Kaiser. That is the dreampiece I could not find till now.
Is that the model, after which was made the Melton 197 (on instigation of Walter Hilgers)?
And where did you acquire it?
Hubert

hubert wrote:Hello Oidipous,
Agree: yours must be a Bohland & Fuchs Kaiser. That is the dreampiece I could not find till now.
Is that the model, after which was made the Melton 197 (on instigation of Walter Hilgers)?
And where did you acquire it?
Hubert

Hi Hubert,
I bought it on ebay a couple of years ago.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31671
It is not in good playable condition, because the top bow has a severe 'ding' (that blocks about half of the passage).
The valves are leaky, there could be a crack under bow guard where the ding is, and the bell flare could use a lot of care...
Besides, I'm not sure the intonation is meant to be 440 Hz...
All of the bows are handmade from sheetmetal, the bell flare has been constructed with a triangular piece of metal soldered into the bell.
The instruments incredibly light, 10,4 kg.
This instrument is probably a bit older than the B&F that the 197 is based on, and it has a horizontal tuning slide where Hilgers' instrument has a vertical tuning slide.
I'm thinking about having it restored in playable condition, but other priorities right now (children )
Future project...

Thanks for your information, Oidipous.
If you need a good address for restoration, I could help.
Not far from Nijmegen, about 50 km across the German border, there is a repairman who worked for 12 years in/for the musical instruments museums of Basle and Berlin.
Regards,
Hubert

! !

Yes, Greg, it plays good. Mouthpiece-sensitive. But with my JK 4AA I have a reach of almost 4 octaves. Must improve "attaque" a bit, because the sound is so crisp... But it has an attractive individual voice.
Hubert

hubert wrote:Thanks for your information, Oidipous.
If you need a good address for restoration, I could help.
Not far from Nijmegen, about 50 km across the German border, there is a repairman who worked for 12 years in/for the musical instruments museums of Basle and Berlin.
Regards,
Hubert

Hi, can you pm the contact info?
Always good to have some options.
thx!

Hello Oidipous,

That is: Gerd Kempkes, Lockumer Weg 15a, D-46395 Bocholt, +49-2871-2189245; email: blechgerd73@aol.com" target="_blank.

Works fast (on appointment); far from expensive; perfect jobs as far as I have experienced.

Hubert