Conn 5J- $1700

[emcallaway]

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/msg/1496522821.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

No affiliation. If anyone is interested I live in Williamsburg and can check it out. I'd seriously consider getting it, but I recently bought a sweet Conn 3J. If anyone's looking for a BBb tuba that no one think twice about them using in quintet, then this may be it.

Evan "still using the 5/4 BBb for quintet, but switching over to the 3J after the recital on Tuesday" Callaway

[emcallaway]

I've been so buried by concerts/finals/gigs in the past two weeks that I haven't had the chance to go look at it. Things are winding down so if anyone's interested I can check it out for them on Thursday/Friday of this week. I assume this means you're interested, if you are please tell me and I'll go check out the condition and run it through the paces.

-Evan

[emcallaway]

Okay, here's the dirt on the 5J after a very quick trial:

Physically the horn has many small dents and dings, but nothing to get worked up over...sort of a used, but not abused kind of look. Lacquer is very spotty. There is what looks like a patch on the 4th valve slide, but all of the other slides tend to be fairly dent free. The plating on the valves looks almost factory perfect. The valves are quite fast-- they aren't short action, but darned if they don't have a short valve stroke. All slides are free and move without any trouble. There are several dents in the lead pipe, including one that chokes off about 1/3 of the tube.

Experience has said that these play best with a Helleberg, so that is what I used to try this horn out. The horn is playable as is and it has a nice sound, however the large dent on the lead pipe seems to have the double effect of making the horn quite stuffy and making everything around 15-20 cents flat. I can't really draw too many conclusions about the playability as the horn would probably play 8,000 times better without the choke in the lead pipe. It always will be a small BBb, but from experience I can say these play like much larger horns when they are in tip top shape.

Overall I would say that this horn has a lot of potential to be a great player at a reasonable price. If someone were to buy this and have the two or three dents taken out of the lead pipe this horn will probably play quite well. Somebody make these folks an offer...I have a 3J and don't need another 3/4 contrabass. If didn't already have a horn like this I would very seriously consider picking this one up myself. This horn (once repaired) would probably be great for middle school band as its relatively small and durable, but based on my experience with the Conn 3J and the quality of this one's valves I can say that this one would make a great quintet/small ensemble horn for those folks that feel most comfortable on BBb. Heck, this horn plays better than most high school owned horns even with the dent in the lead pipe!

Summary-- it's not a beauty, but it is in decent shape. It plays, but it would play better with a minor and relatively inexpensive repair. Draw conclusions as you will.

Evan "still no affiliation" Callaway

[Ken Herrick]

Thanks for checking it out. I'm considering an offer although I don't know how I'd get it to Chicago. As a trombone player (just getting started in tuba doubling) I really appreciate your input.

I think this could be a good choice for your purposes. Possibly you could work something out with Evan to get it collected and sent to you, possibly via a competent tech who could fix the lead pipe.

I used a 5j for some time after my old king was pretty well destroyed and wouldn't at all mind having it around right now.