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Figured I would wait to post until I shined up the bell a bit. Picked up this fine Alexander 156 last week.







And the original fingering chart:



If you can't make out the black letter font, it says:

"Grifftabelle für F-Tuba mit 6 Ventilen
System Gebr. Alexander, Mainz a. Rhein
1.2.3. Ventil (linke Hand) und 4.5.6. Ventil (rechte Hand).
Die Zahlen in Klammern bedeuten Hilfsgriffe."

and:

"Bei Benutzung des kleinen 3. Ventilzuges (3/4 Ton Länge) ändern sich folgende Griffe:"

It's a really fantastic tuba that I had to make room in my stable for (bye, Mirafone). Eventually I will probably get it converted to 4+2, but it is a fun project for now figuring out the fingerings. The way it is set up now, it's basically as follows:
Left Hand:
1= whole step (normal 1st valve)
2 = half step (normal 2nd valve)
3 = long whole step (normal fifth valve)

Right Hand:
4=minor third (normal third valve)
5=long half step (normal sixth valve)
6=perfect fourth (normal fourth valve)

A bit unusual, as most of these Vienna system tubas I've read about have standard 1-2-3 in the left hand and long whole step, long half step, perfect fourth in the right hand. I do have some extra slides coming in that will allow the typical Vienna fingerings, I think, but as it's all foreign to me I don't mind either way.

The raw brass is in fine condition with just a bit of surface oxidization. No red rot to speak of, but there is some old solder that probably needs touching-up, and the valves need alignment and the whole horn could do with a chem clean. Even with these issues it's got a really, really nice sound, incredibly fine intonation and lots of alternate fingerings to boot. The linkage is smooth and fairly quiet. After being without a German-style F for a couple years, it took me a few days to work out the low D to B range but it's not an issue.

I spent this spring learning Eb fingerings, so it will be a nice challenge to learn 3+3 fingerings for the rest of the summer until I start back teaching again.

Thanks for reading and looking! Time to practice.

Congrats!

Congrats!!

I've only had the great fortune to encounter one of them once. But after a few minutes, I figured out how to play Bydlo and found it to be vastly superior to every horn I had ever played that except on before that particular Alex.

Don't change a thing!!

It would be badass to be proficient on a Viennese F tuba!

"If you can't be perfect, you can always be a little weird!"

Joking aside, that is a pretty cool horn. I hope you have fun with it and get proficient with the fingerings..

Alexander Über Alles!

Very Nice!

Mark
Principal Tuba, Bel Air Community Band and a fellow Alexander player

Josh: Bydlo pops out of this tuba. High range above high F is easy and very clear. While leaving it original would be cool, I have a number of Alex related projects in store down the road and this will probably be one of them. (Modern leadpipe/receiver and fifth valve added to 163, reconfiguring this one if the geometry works out).

Brett: I'm currently at "farting around" status. Sight reading fluency will take a while! Reprogramming myself to turn normal 23 fingerings (Db, Ab) into RH 12 will be difficult. But probably badass, eventually.

Big Ben: My tuba and I are not at all perfect, and definitely a little weird, so that axiom is very apt.

Frank and Mark: I'm an Alexander convert - I posted a while ago about my 163 I had acquired in May. The Alex 156 tuba sound is everything an Alex 163 is in a smaller package. Choir teacher girlfriend says this one sounds the best out of all, so if the boss says that, I gotta keep it.

arpthark wrote: Eventually I will probably get it converted to 4+2, ...

Oh- NO! Please don't do it!

Ulli

Don't worry Ulli - it's not a priority right now.

In a few months, though...

arpthark wrote:Choir teacher girlfriend says this one sounds the best out of all, so if the boss says that, I gotta keep it.

...and keep her, too!

Figured I'd post an update. I've been using this tuba daily, in a tuba quartet and in the brass band I play in. I think the "honeymoon phase" is over for me, but I am still very happy with it. This horn plus the MW 2250 on the other Eb tuba part in brass band makes a really interesting sonic blend. The Alex can be bright, but the sound has such a presence and character that's really unlike any tuba I've played. It's a much better instrument than my 163 CC, FWIW.

I do have some left hand strain with it, as most of the technical passages use the left hand, but I've learned to hold the instrument a little differently and that's helped. It's made me relearn F tuba in a way, and I feel like I'm pretty proficient with it now. Sightreading is something of a challenge. Six valves allows lots of alternate fingerings and I find that it's very easy to play in tune with minimal effort.

I don't think I'll get it converted to 4+2 anymore, as I rather enjoyed the challenge of learning Vienna fingerings and I don't want to %$#% this tuba up. The hardest thing to remember for me is playing Db and Ab with right hand 1-2 - my natural instinct is to play right hand 2-3 on that note... but that would give me an F#. I probably would like to get the linkages converted from S-links at some point, as they're fairly noisy.

Anyway, thanks for reading and looking. I am curious as to who else on the board owns a Vienna F. Tony Clements? Europe folks?

Thick oil for the double-T links and conically shafted screws connecting the S-links to the crank)stop-arm might diminish the noise.

Klaus

Such a cool tuba. I hope you stick with it, get fully proficient, and then can wow and amaze everyone who watches you play. The sound sure seems worth it, too.

BTW, I just love that fingering chart. If you ever wanted to sell it, let me know!

I learned to play F tuba on one of these. Great horns and I wish I had one still.

It's amazing how much sound the old Viennese players could get out of these. Reasonably good low notes as well.

Eh, I'm jealous. Oh well....congrats on a great find.

Just plundered this from Uwe Schneider's FaceBook.
Look familiar? In my eyes this horn matches yours to a T.

Very close - the wrap of the left hand third valve circuit on my tuba is just a little more tight.

Still wish I could find some decorative thumb screws though.

Keep in mind this is an artists interpretation
and
probably another vintage than your horn
and
these are hand made horns.
Still, it looks like the lengths of the tubing match which might very well mean that this tuning was standard'ish for a time.
A lot of speculation here.