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There was a holiday concert series at the Mall of America last night. Prior to the St. Paul Police Band playing there was a very good brass quintet. The tuba player was playing a Miraphone 188 in C which he had modified to play left handed. He had injured his right hand a number of years ago and had his horn modified so he could play left handed. Here is a picture.

Very neat.

Astounding he could reach around comfortably with his left hand, yet still reach the leadpipe.

Wait, so there were at least 2 tuba-related performances there last night? That's *almost* enough to get me to MOA in December.

Neat horn. Always cool to see people do whatever is necessary to keep playing.

I recently picked up a PT-20 that also had been converted to left hand action. Reaching the rotors while having the leadpipe on the right side is no problem. As a horn player I thought using it left handed could work for me, but the 4th valve combinations proved a little too awkward, especially in rapid passages in flat keys (plenty of those in concert band charts). I'm in the process of having it converted back to right hand action.