TubeNet

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the elephant wrote:This might be an Olds O-99. (I can never remember the number of this model.) Despite what the seller says, size is relative and this is NOT a "big boy" for a tuba. ...... Get it if you want. Just decide soon or Dan or Joe will snatch it up! Good luck!

Wade

This would probably be a good little horn with a bit of dentwork. I think you're correct.... I'm pretty sure it's Olds 0-099.... certainly not a 'big boy'. I haven't bid on this one. Besides, whoever buys it might send it to be for the dentwork, anyway!

Prices seems about right considering it will need a couple hundred dollars worth of dentwork and the lacquer looks pretty good. These horns go for about $500-800 on the 'bay depending on condition; I know because I add the auctions to my watchlist.

The low end on my Olds O-99 3 valve is fine for band - it rocks right on down to low F and E. Pedal/false tones speak well if needed for a last chord, etc., but there really aren't a lot of written notes in band lit below that. The tuba players in my band thought it sounded great.

EDIT: No need to be in a hurry, there is usually at least one of these on eBay at any given time.

Eric "who likes his Olds, and knows a guy in southern IN who can get those dents out " L.

the elephant wrote: He does a good job with the photos, but he needs to email you photos of all the slides out of the horn and close-ups of the pistons so you can see the plating.

Along with the usual piston wear issues, this model has unusually bad luck with stems. My 3rd valve stem was wobbly, probably broken and replaced with some jury-rigged affair, and I've heard this happens a lot and may not be easy to fix. So it would be nice to have some assurances that the stems are in good order.

Mine worked for me, beater though it was.

Donn wrote:Along with the usual piston wear issues, this model has unusually bad luck with stems. My 3rd valve stem was wobbly, probably broken and replaced with some jury-rigged affair, and I've heard this happens a lot and may not be easy to fix. So it would be nice to have some assurances that the stems are in good order.

Wow, that happened to mine too. If I take out the third valve stem, it is hell to get it to thread back in straight, so I now avoid doing this. About crapped the first time it happened, I thought I had done something to it. I guess they made the brass stems too soft or didn't make them wide enough.
Thanks for posting that.

Eric "who is very careful with that valve" L.

This would be my first owned horn. I can't take the 186 I use in class to my house for practice, so I take home and keep at home one of the beater YBB-641's. The ones we have really are horrible that I just hate, so this Olds would be, if I get it, a good horn for me to practice on and to do other things that wouldn't really warrant a big 641 or 186.

How does that sound?

The Jackson wrote:This would be my first owned horn. I can't take the 186 I use in class to my house for practice, so I take home and keep at home one of the beater YBB-641's. The ones we have really are horrible that I just hate, so this Olds would be, if I get it, a good horn for me to practice on and to do other things that wouldn't really warrant a big 641 or 186.

How does that sound?

Remember, you are going to have to drop a ton into this horn. I'd wait and try to get something that needs a lot less work. You do have a horn to play at home even though you don't like it. Gut it out and save your money until you find a decent horn that doesn't need a bunch of work right off.

Yes, you definitely have a valid point there.

I don't think I'll be making any purchases now. I'll talk to my tuba teacher about it and see what he says.

Thank you for your help, everyone!

TubaTinker wrote: This would probably be a good little horn with a bit of dentwork.

It needs dent work? You should have seen mine!

I guess I'd be most worried about the ding in the leadpipe, at the front of the bell. In my very unqualified opinion that could cause more acoustic trouble than the big craters in the outer branches, and for all I know might also be harder to fix?