Alexander 163 BBb

[Heavy_Metal]

old enough to have S-links:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALEXANDER-4-4-B ... SwKfVXFajG" target="_blank

[bort]

I hate to say it... but I think it would've looked nicer if they hadn't relacquered it.

[Tom]

I am pretty sure that the 4th crook was replaced by one bent at that shop. It is not shaped at all like the 4th crooks made by Alexander, at any point in the horn's history.

Further, Alexanders are super-thin tubas. My little Yamaha YFB-621 weighs more than my old Alexander 163. I would worry about thin spots in the sheet metal, especially in the bell flare and in the outer branches, due to all the buffing this probably took. Most of these horns came from the factory without lacquer, so a buffed-off patina might have removed a lot of metal.

Also, this is NOT the original leadpipe or receiver. (The receiver looks like one of those generic ones patterned on the one used by Conn forever. The leadpipe has been soldered directly to the bell in some places and has big gaps in others. It is neither soldered on traditionally, which has to fit a specific way, nor is it soldered on using a small brace to keep it off the bell, which also requires the pipe be bent to a specific shape. This one is poorly assembled, at best. With a non-Alex leadpipe that is MUCH smaller it might have improved intonation. It might not. It will not sound like an Alexander, though. I know this from having worked on my own Alex for twelve years - especially the leadpipe.

If the tuba was that beat up I wonder what else was replaced.

I would avoid this horn like the plague.

A huge +1 from me. The leadpipe work alone would keep me from buying it, let alone what they've done to the 4th valve crook. Add to that the the strap rings are incorrect and mismatched, pretty minor, but still...

Unfortunately this one is a "bitsa" as in bits of this and bits of that.

I image that this is an exceptionally thin tuba...and, like Wade said, they weren't very thick to start with. It may well have some tin-foil spots. IMHO, they essentially ruined it by buffing and lacquering. Anyone shopping for a BBb Alexander should keep looking, I think.

[bort]

Unfortunately this one is a "bitsa" as in bits of this and bits of that.

I just learned a new word.

[Tom]

I took a closer look at this listing....

Evidently the bell garland does NOT say Alexander on it. Every Alexander I've ever seen (except for the VERY, VERY old ones) have the bell garland engraved with the name Alexander. I highly doubt that an original Alexander 163 left the factory without an engraved bell garland, so...

-It might not be the original bell
-It might have (eek! ) had the engraving buffed off
-It might not be an Alexander tuba at all (considering how much else is "off," it really makes me wonder...)

The seller doesn't "know" it's an Alex, he thinks it's an Alex. Totally different story. Buyer beware.

[bort]

I just now read the seller's listing, and it seems like he tries to account for most of the oddities. I wouldn't buy it, but at least he's trying to be straight about it.

One thing I find interesting is that they make a big deal about of NOT buffing to remove the old lacquer. While that's good, I never saw that as the issue. I always thought the issue was preparing the surface for the new lacquer, to get rid of all of the scratches, dings, blah blah blah so the new stuff has any shot of actually sticking. So, maybe this only had the crap buffed out of it once, instead of twice.

Again... if it were the real deal, I'd be much happier with one that's brown and ugly.

[Heavy_Metal]

Well, FWIW my older Alex doesn't have the name on the bell kranz- at that time they put their name on a medallion that they attached to the bell stack. But it's still an Alex, and most importantly it sounds like an Alex.

I believe this seller is in or near Cortland, Ohio, which is near Warren and Youngstown- if someone near there feels like it, they might try it out.

[Tom]

Well, FWIW my older Alex doesn't have the name on the bell kranz- at that time they put their name on a medallion that they attached to the bell stack. But it's still an Alex, and most importantly it sounds like an Alex.

Yes, I've seen the medalions on quite old Alexander tubas, but this doesn't have one of those either. Alexander actually still uses the medallions on some of their smaller instruments, too.