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My main horn wasn't old when I bought it used, but I reckon it's "vintage" now... and it sounded good. You can work with almost anything...

some vintage horns were made better and sound better. Some reason why they change is either for marketing reasons, business reasons or just for the sake of art from the craftsmens' point of view.

Some horns that come to mind are the B&S Symphonie model, some Mirafone CCs, the Yamaha 822 F's. The B&S played more in tune, better lower registers and more color. I have one of 2 of the prototypes of the Mirafone 188, which is the most open and big sounding rotary CC I have ever played, and I played quite a bit of other horns. Very even.

Here's a picture of it:

Jonathantuba wrote:I recently had a discussion with a horn player who thought that the sound of brass instruments deteriated with age with which I disagreed. But is there anything in it?

Brass does change with age, depending on the environmental conditions to which it's exposed, but unless exposed to extreme heat or cold, it's unlikely that the aging of the metal will have any significant impact on how an instrument plays. This reminds me of trumpet players who refer to a horn as having been "blown out." As if by playing a brass instrument can be used up and not play well any more. This is nonsense. The only thing that could cause this is wear to valves and casings, which can be repaired.

Jonathantuba wrote:I recently had a discussion with a horn player who thought that the sound of brass instruments deteriated with age with which I disagreed. But is there anything in it?

No.

Rick "who would explain why, but who would have to bring up bicycle frames to do so and who doesn't want to bore Joe Baker" Denney

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Rick Denney wrote:

Jonathantuba wrote:I recently had a discussion with a horn player who thought that the sound of brass instruments deteriated with age with which I disagreed. But is there anything in it?

No.

Rick "who would explain why, but who would have to bring up bicycle frames to do so and who doesn't want to bore Joe Baker" Denney

Oh, alright, go ahead. As long as there's a point other than actually RIDING the darned things!
_________________________________
Joe Baker, who suspects he is merely a convenient scapegoat.

I suspect that the worst problem with an older brass instrument is the likelyhood of the solder cracking.

I have recently played several CC piston valve tubas well over 50 years old and they played wonderfully. It would take a very special instrument to stand out in comparison.

The most impressive BBb I ever played was a Cerveny of early 1900 vintage. It's one of the two BBb tubas that would convince me to switch back to BBb (if I could own it).

I've had very limited experience with old solder and would appreciate some of the BBS-er's comments about it.