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I'd been shopping for an excellent Bb for quite some time and ended up with this Gronitz PBK5.
Guess there aren't many around, particularly with 5th valve, so I thought I'd post a few pics here.
Plays phenomenally well. Response is very close to my C tuba (also 4P, 1R) and pitch is also excellent.
I played the tuba in raw brass in Hamburg and had Dietrich modify the leadpipe position and angle - I prefer a slight downward angle to the leadpipe.

Used it so far in Brass Band and love it - much better than my 19" bell B&H Imperial. No orchestra yet but that will come...

Still experimenting with mouthpieces but so far having fine results in band with Sellmansberger Symphony w/standard shank (thanks Joe) and a Windhager WHF B/G9 w/E6 shank.

Photos.

Comparison.

Congratulations - it looks lovely!

Incredible!!

It's a "Peach"!

Who sells those in the US?

Congrats on the purchase. I am still searching for my own Gronitz horn as they are amazing.

Horn Guys and WWBW have Gronitz on their sites and I have seen the PBK listed with them, so they should be able to get them into the US.

I want.

Nice! Always cool to see a great BBb tuba being put to good use!

Beautiful horn, what is the CC it is being compared to?

Well - Peach posted a couple of photos of the PBK5 next to a Nirschl......

Beautiful horn - best of luck to you with it!

I especially like the wrap of the 5th valve - would it be possible to post some detailed photos of that and the thumb lever set up? (It appears as though there is no thumb paddle....)

Fabulous!

roweenie wrote:Beautiful horn - best of luck to you with it!

I especially like the wrap of the 5th valve - would it be possible to post some detailed photos of that and the thumb lever set up? (It appears as though there is no thumb paddle....)

Oh, I totally missed that... leadpipe goes *through* the valve slide. Neat, and truly a sign of a handmade tuba. Looks like something that 100 years from now, people will look at it and think "whoa, what'd they decide to do there?"

bort wrote:

roweenie wrote:Beautiful horn - best of luck to you with it!

I especially like the wrap of the 5th valve - would it be possible to post some detailed photos of that and the thumb lever set up? (It appears as though there is no thumb paddle....)

Oh, I totally missed that... leadpipe goes *through* the valve slide. Neat, and truly a sign of a handmade tuba. Looks like something that 100 years from now, people will look at it and think "whoa, what'd they decide to do there?"

Yes, that's one of the first things that caught my eye. I've had a similar layout in my head for some time now, and I'd like to see how they made it work...

More photos soon although I'm not quite sure what you're after that I haven't already shown? I'll try to get some good shots showing the angles of slide work in the 5th.

My only concern with the setup is that I'm not sure the 5th is readily removable without dismantling the slide assembly. It can be pushed out from the back but I don't know if there's room to actually get it out.

By the way, Dietrich is retiring in about a year so folk looking for a Gronitz with his DNA present might want to order quite soon. He's also finding it hard to find certain components too as suppliers are stopping making some things. Case in point - he had a very good 5rv Kaiser Bb but the bell is the very last one available to him...

Congrats - lovely horn. How much does it weigh?