TubeNet

No markings on the kranz
42 inches long
16.5 inch bell
.750 bore
http://s672.photobucket.com/user/saxoph ... t=3&page=1" target="_blank" target="_blank

thanks

Czech. It's a classic B & S 101 stencil.

That is assuming the pictures in the link are correct.

link corrected

The typical 45 grade angle of the leadpipe and tuning bow into the valves let me think at an GDR tuba (Weltklang)

Ulli

It's a VEB BBb, the predecessor to the B&S Weltklang 4/4 BBb. Probably made sometime before 1965.
Regards,
TheBerlinerTuba

VEB only tells that at GDR-based company was owned by the people, a euphemism for being a state owned company.

VEB always was a mere prefix to a detailed company name.

Even B&S was a VEB.

Klaus

Building tubas was probably a damn fine job for a 2nd world communist. I bet they had their pick of the finest craftsmen.

GDR certainly had a thorough education system that kept the traditions of old krafts alive. Each of the collective farms had a person educated as a (horse-)carriage builder on its staff mainly for making and adapting shafts of the different agricaultural machines.

The full eduation as a brass instruments making master craftsman took 12 years. Only craftsmen of that education level were allowed to do the assembly of the top level instruments like the B&S tubas and the Hoyer horns. The Weltklang line and its many aliases were assembled by less educated journeymen and apprentices, even if the acoustic design of both lines were the same and at least for the main bugles were made out of the same parts.

Here in Denmark it was known among prass players that if one tested enough samples of the Weltklang rotary instruments, one could find stellar samples playing as well as the B&S line. GDR piston instruments never were good. The acoustic designs were bad in respect of especially intonation, and the GDR factories didn’‡ have access to the currency to buy the precision machinery needed to make good pistons.

Almost 30 years ago I loaned, via my local library here in Denmark, the text book used in the education of the GDR brass makers. The techniques used appeared quite old fashioned and based on raw materials not made specifically for the brass instruments’ industry.

Klaus

Looks like it came from Markneukirchen (B&S, etc.) to me, in the detailing that I can see in the photos. The Czechs copied some of the B&S designs to some extent, but the details weren't the same in any of the Czech instruments I'm familiar with.

Rick "who has owned several of each" Denney

I have played several of these horns (of various stenciled names), liked them, and even recently bought a nice one stenciled with the 'Sonora' name. The wrap, bracing, and overall dimensions of these horns sure do look like Alex copies, but there's one thing I don't understand: isn't the Alex bore size something like 0.810 and these horns are built with a bore size of 0.750? Why didn't these makers use the 0.810 bore size?

-Martin.