OK gurus, what the heck is this?

bigboymusic · Post by **bigboymusic** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 11:50 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... osting[url][/url]

bigboymusic · Post by **bigboymusic** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:03 am

Yeah. I could not help myself! I have absolutely no idea what the heck 'it' is, but I love it already. There is part of me that swears I've seen this horn before. I took lessons with Jake in the mid-80's, but I don't think that was where....We will see in a week or so....

bigboymusic · Post by **bigboymusic** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 12:12 am

Yes, the valves surely look holtenesque.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 2:08 pm

bloke wrote:' seems obvious to me that it's some European rotary tuba (Miraphone/Amati/etc.) that has been after-engineered. Since the bell is crinkled, maybe it is very thin (??) and possibly formerly had a wreath that was trimmed off at the rim (??).

My best guess on the valveset is Holton, and the branches look to all be custom-bent.

I agree that the valves look like Holtons, right down the tiny original buttons. They look identical to the valves on my 345. That means that the bore will be .750 in the first three valves and .810 in the fourth.

A 17" bell would be a common size for what seems to me a typical rotary tuba set of outer branches. And it looks to me as though the bell garland is still in place, but it's a wide garland like newer instruments, which I don't quite understand. Cerveny/Amati rotary tubas of 4/4 size from back when Jacobs was teaching actively were about 15.75" in diameter, as I recall. A 17" bell suggests to me that it's something else. It could be a Boehm and Meinl rotary tuba carcass, which also fits with the 39" height. The bottom bow guard is definitely not Cerveny, but it looks a lot like Miraphone to me.

I can't think of any reason why this instrument would not work, and if it does, the price is a good one.

Rick "curious about how it sounds" Denney

bigboymusic · Post by **bigboymusic** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:42 pm

I'll post on this one when it comes in. It looks like the creator was trying for an 'open wrap' tuba design. Should be interesting.

Paul

bigboymusic · Post by **bigboymusic** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 12:05 am

Miah, it is a weird horn, but a good beast. The bell is light and the horn itself is very light, but the sound is huge. The bore size is big and the valves are very long (throw). there are a couple small tears at the bell rim, but you know, I don't care. It sounds good. And for the $$$$, it was a steal. This was the first time ever I just hit the buy it now button without even thinking.

It was a good buy.

Paul

Sam Gnagey · Post by **Sam Gnagey** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:13 pm

I sold this horn to the guy that just sold it on ebay. It is a European body with a Holton ca. .800" bore valve set from a sousaphone. The person who did the work on it was Mr. Jacobs' repair guy, Kadar. The horn had belonged to Dan Corrigan, retired Indianapolis Symphony, who bought it through or from Mr. Jacobs when he was studying with him. It has a nice sound. Valves leaked a bit and pitch was inconsistent. I believe that Corrigan played it for several years with Indianapolis.