TubeNet

A program I work for just received a generous donation of two vintage tubas. I'm hoping to find out a bit more about what we got.

The first is in CC. It has no engravings that I could find. Receiver is fairly large, with a standard Laskey shank (not pictured) almost completely swallowed up.




The second is in BBb. This one has very noisy and slow valves with clockwork springs. There is a small engraving that I didn't have the foresight to take a pic of, but it looks like an upside down V (or an A without the horizontal bit). I'll see if I can get a pic soon. The leadpipe and receiver are one piece and it takes a very small shank.




Gallery here: https://imgur.com/a/iW5id" target="_blank

Any help is greatly appreciated!

The first one looks like a B&S product. The second one is the Russian predecessor of St. Petersburg tubas.

Hello Luke Storm,
congratulations on the new tubas. The first tuba is perhaps one of the earliest VEB made (predecessor to the GDR B&S name) CC Tubas ca. 1960s with its half round nickel silver braces and brass valve casings. An unusual find.

The other horn is as Tabor says, a russian made tuba shaped decoration...

Regards
TheBerlinerTuba

The 45° entry to and exit from the valve block points towards B&S (or its predecessor). That assumption is confirmed by the shape of the thumbring flange.

VEB is short for Volkseigener Betrieb (Factory owned by the people). That is not a brand name, but a category of companies within the DDR/GDR. B&S also was a VEB back then. As far as I can follow the names of GDR makers, the predecessor of B&S was the Sächische Musikinstrumentenfabrik (Saxonian Music Instruments’ Factory).

The S-links are an older style, but were still an option for the premium B&S range at least in 1985. The spiral springs are a newer style. From an instrument made for the German market I would have expected S-links combined with clocksprings, so this one could have been made for the US-market. Depending on period and on importer it may have been engraved with a stencil name. One possibility would have been Schneider. It could be 60 years or so old, but it might be somewhat younger.

Klaus

Thanks for the info! Now maybe a tougher question: any idea what the $$ value of these might be?

That depends solely on matters not seen in the photos: Their playing qualities.

Klaus.