TubeNet

Man, that is about the ugliest Miraphone I have ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets 0 bids, especially starting at a grand. Can't help but wonder about the inside, if the outside looks like that. I'm not a cosmetic person either.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0074361486" target="_blank

That outside is really... perplexing to me...


But I guess that's what constitutes "player wear"!

I've seen much worse. But... with a 15" bell, I don't think that's a 184. A 184 bell should be about 14". An overall length of 40" is too long, too. There's a fair chance that it's a 185.

This horn could be a lot worse. Look at the tuba rebuild examples both on Tuba Tinker's site and at Dan Oberloh's site (http://www.oberloh.com" target="_blank) and you'll see a few more horns that started kinda like this and came out great. As a wise person once said: "It's easy if you know how".

A starting bid of $999 seems too high. I bet it will be back at a lower (or no) starting bid.

TubaTinker wrote:I've seen much worse. But... with a 15" bell, I don't think that's a 184. A 184 bell should be about 14". An overall length of 40" is too long, too. There's a fair chance that it's a 185.

Dan, I really think it is a 184 and he mismeasured the bell. The bell on my 184 BBb is a bit over 14" and it is exactly 40 inches tall. The wrap is identical to mine, not close but identical. Also the serial number indicates a 1971 horn. Were they making 185's that early? I am not that familiar with the wrap on the 185 so I admit I could be wrong, but this one is really spot on with mine. I wouldn't pay $999 for it, but for a lesser price(a lot lesser), I might be interested in it as a parts horn. Been thinking about a 5th valve.

tbn.al wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:I've seen much worse. But... with a 15" bell, I don't think that's a 184. A 184 bell should be about 14". An overall length of 40" is too long, too. There's a fair chance that it's a 185.

Dan, I really think it is a 184 and he mismeasured the bell. The bell on my 184 BBb is a bit over 14" and it is exactly 40 inches tall. The wrap is identical to mine, not close but identical. Also the serial number indicates a 1971 horn. Were they making 185's that early? I am not that familiar with the wrap on the 185 so I admit I could be wrong, but this one is really spot on with mine. I wouldn't pay $999 for it, but for a lesser price(a lot lesser), I might be interested in it as a parts horn. Been thinking about a 5th valve.

Dunno. But.... here's a 186 and a 185 side-by-side. It's really difficult to tell the difference from a picture. These were some pretty ugly tubas, too!



(The red one's the 186)

Look at the smaller bows closer to the bell. See how there is a gap in the 186 and none in the 185. Also the 3rd valve loop is in a slightly diferent position. Unless you can tell the difference in scale between the rotor size and the tubing diameter I don't think you can distinguish a 184 fron a 186 in a picture. The 185 though looks different to me. Do you know the manufacture dates for the 185?

Like to follow up on tbn's question. . . Does anyone know over what years the 185 was built?