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Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:53 pm
by TheTuba
never got it. It's like the great Caramel debate.

-Raghul

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:15 pm
by TheTuba
yeah, it kind of is.

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 11:59 pm
by Bnich93
As far as i understand it, mirafone was stamped on american market horns for a number of years, my 181 is marked “mirafone” and was made at some point in the 90s. Im too lazy to find the true age. Doesnt matter to me because its in amazing shape regardless.

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 10:49 am
by bort
Similarly, "Meinl Weston" is called Melton everywhere except the US. There is an American trucking company (or something) called Melton.

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 12:17 pm
by The Big Ben
the elephant wrote:There was a phone handset maker (or a telecom company - I have heard both but never seen any hard evidence) called Miraphone in the US in the 1960s and 1970s that later went out of business, or some such nonsense. It was simply a case of two companies having the same name coming into conflict.
Yes, I have seen ads for "Miraphone" telephone sets on eBay. I think there also is a hearing aid manufacturer named Miraphone.

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 12:22 pm
by The Big Ben
bort wrote:Similarly, "Meinl Weston" is called Melton everywhere except the US. There is an American trucking company (or something) called Melton.
The 60s/70s band, "Country Joe and The Fish" of "Gimme an F..." fame at Woodstock was the collaboration of Country Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton.

Jeff "He sees things and tells you about them" Benedict

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:21 pm
by windshieldbug
In case you've never seen one... the Miraphone!

https://fccid.io/png.php?id=407073&page=0" target="_blank" target="_blank

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:21 pm
by paulver
Researched this some time ago. Here's what I found:

Miraphone........ sold in Germany.

Way back when......... Mirafone...... sold in USA. Somebody in the Germany plant thought that a more "Americanized" spelling of the name would sell better in the US. Probably due to WWII or some such thing. Eventually, the American market was shut down, and everything was labeled Miraphone.

Research was done online, so it could be true........ or not!!!!!

Also, here's a link to a site that lists Miraphone brass serial numbers and dates manufactured. Judging from the exact number on the bell, mine (Mirafone) was made around the first semester of my junior year in college..... 1971.

https://www.adams-music.com/instrumente ... p?lid=1033" target="_blank" target="_blank

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2018 1:08 am
by Donn
paulver wrote:Somebody in the Germany plant thought that a more "Americanized" spelling of the name would sell better in the US. Probably due to WWII or some such thing.
Not that it disproves this theory, but ... that's just crazy. It's backwards. Pick the German word in the following pairs:
  • Graphic, Grafik
  • Telephone, Telefon
(I admit that I am having a hard time finding more than those two examples, but give me one example of the converse! Other than "Mirafone".)

Re: Miraphones vs Mirafones

Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:18 pm
by paulver
Like I said........ online info! Could be true, or maybe not. Just putting in what I found on the topic. Not trying to convince anyone to believe it.