TubeNet

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miraphone-186-B ... 1907837418" target="_blank

Dents. I heard it said once that the more dents a tuba has, the greater its character. If that's so, this tuba has tons of character.

The seller must LOVE school horns...

It might be a good player, but it needs some work. I'd be more worried about the patches than the dents, especially the one on the first valve slide

And that garland removal... yowch.

arpthark wrote:And that garland removal... yowch.

Made the buzzing stop though, right?

Appears to be in Baraboo,WI home of the Circus World Museum and Mid-Continent Railroad Museum. And it looks like it took a beating in the circus or the railroad.

That's an early serial # - I'm guessing late '50's - early '60's. With that kind of damage/age/use I'd be skeptical of the sellers claims in regards to valves/playability. That thing looks like it was well used/abused in a school environment. The garland removal is a spectacular fail. I bet in person it looks worse than it appears in the photos.

The leadpipe looks like it has a few dings, but the rest of the valve section and inner bows look to be in pretty good shape. We've certainly seen a lot worse come through eBay. I think the nasty bell is the worst part. Even the outer bows aren't as bashed in as you usually see in a school horn.

No burned lacquer where the bell joins the bottom bow ferrule. The 'repairman' must have cut the garland off.

I've found the rotors on most of these older Mirafones to be in pretty good shape except for an occasional broken-off rotor stem. ... testimony to the way these things were built as opposed to the rotors on modern 'off-brand' offerings.

pop a different bell on it and you're probably ready to toot without too much else unless linkages are BTFO.
somebody will probably hit BIN.

TheGoyWonder wrote:pop a different bell on it and you're probably ready to toot without too much else unless linkages are BTFO.
somebody will probably hit BIN.

Too late for a 'buy it now'. I'm confident it will go for a stupid high price despite needing a bell.