Heavy_Metal wrote:Looks German... reminds me a bit of the Schuster that BigTubby got a short while ago.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Tuba-Fo ... 20d7b992ca" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
This one looks newer to me but I'm surely no expert.
Some substantial differences in details:
This one looks like a proper 4/4 (38" vs. 32.5" overall length).
The braces on the Schuster are all like the one on the main tuning slide of this one (tubes, not turnings).
Round and oval backplates as opposed to the "cloud" backplates on the Schuster.
The wrap on this one is a bit more "normal" but does appear to have the 2+3 (two whole step) 4th valve wrap like the Schuster instead of the modern 1+3 (two and a half steps) setup.
Meat slicer, leadpipe brace and valveset braces are more reminiscent of the La Sete I recently acquired (pretty sure it's from the 1950's or 1960's).
Clock springs, stop plates and valve block are indeed very similar to the little Schuster.
The shield backplates on strap rings are interesting, remind me of the cast lugs on many 1860's - 1870's banjos ...
Edit:
Something interesting on closer inspection: On most rotary tubas all of the valves are identical. This makes perfect sense from a (Henry Ford) manufacturing point of view.
On this "Fischer" tuba, valves I and IV are different from II and III - and are mirror images of each other. Thinking about it again from a manufacturing POV, I guess that the casings would be the same for I and IV but with different machining (flip one over then treat it the same as the other).
I don't remember seeing a setup like this before.
On further inspection, the casings themselves are all the same I through IV. The entry and exit tubes for I and IV are simply straight nipples instead of 45-ish degree els. Still don't remember seeing this before.