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This may belong in the Sponser's section, but some nice old Ebs at Baltimore Brass, including a Keefer!

Alas the Alex is on hold already. Those look like unusual paddles too.

I might have to come up another excuse to drive down the Coast...

Mark E. Chachich and I went to BBC today to try the Alexanders.

They both had one thing in common: they need valve jobs. The rotors on both are quite leaky.

The BBb is a 164 (kaiser) and does have string linkage. Also has some poor soldering, like a rookie plumber was the only repair person available. The third valve link is missing the stop arm screw, so you have to hold the shaft in position to make it play at all. The bell kranz is missing. Someone has installed an adapter in the receiver so it will take an American-shank mouthpiece.

Nevertheless, with a G&W Taku, I was able to knock out some of the tuba part to Samuel Hazo's "Olympiada" that only requires the use of the first two valves. So yes, it'll play to that extent.

The F is a very interesting horn. Dave Fedderly once owned it, though not recently. It's actually a compensating tuba- there are two loops coming out of each of the first three rotor casings, which of course vastly increases its leakiness. It, too, is missing the bell kranz. I got it to play, using a Giardinelli "Dave Bragunier" mouthpiece, but its need for a valve job is obvious. Oh yes- it's no longer for sale. I worked a deal and bought it.

Frank, that sounds cool! Post a photo when you get a chance!

There are a bunch of interesting horns there now. That large, old overhauled/refurbished Cerveny 4rv Eb is beautiful. Want!
Several tubas have been on their site for years.
http://www.baltimorebrass.net/index.php?cat=5

toobagrowl wrote:That large, old overhauled/refurbished Cerveny 4rv Eb is beautiful.

With the right angle rotor linkage? It sure looks like the ticket. Maybe it's just the angle, but it looks big. Listing says "New", maybe reflecting a real serious refurb job?

Also have wondered about the 3+1 1915 York Eb semi-Frankentuba.

I wonder if that was Sam Gnagey's.

When I bought an Alex Vienna-system F tuba from him a few years ago he had a rotary valve Sander with string linkage. It was a sweet horn, a bit airy, but I wasn't in the market. Fourth valve was a two-whole step (23) setup.

^ For as rare as they are, I've seen about 3 or 4 of them over the past couple of years.

From what I understand, they are well-built tubas and sound nice, but are not really up to modern standards in terms of playability and intonation. A historic instrument that is playable, but perhaps not intended for daily use. I'm sure they vary a lot from instrument to instrument.

I was originally interested in these, as they were probably about the closest to what Fred Geib used and what was the basis of the Conn Geib (I think!). I ended up giving up on that pursuit after a lot of time, effort, and research, ultimately realizing that historical instruments are sometimes better left for history. Modern advancements and refinements have been quite significant and have made our jobs a lot easier as tuba players.

Donn wrote:

toobagrowl wrote:That large, old overhauled/refurbished Cerveny 4rv Eb is beautiful.

With the right angle rotor linkage? It sure looks like the ticket. Maybe it's just the angle, but it looks big. Listing says "New", maybe reflecting a real serious refurb job?

Yeah, the one at the top of the "Playability Varies" horn list. The slides come out the opposite end of the bell stack, instead of toward the bell stack side like most rotary horns. You can tell how large that tuba is -- look how fat that bell stack and bottom bow are for an Eb . You can also look at the rotary paddles and thumbring and compare the sizes to the bottom bow and bell stack and get an idea of the overall size/girth of the horn.
It would be considered a 6/4 Eb were it made today; possibly a 5/4 by CC/BBb standards. Definitely a very old Cerveny that was refurbished to "new". Stowasser made a large rotary Eb very similar to this Cerveny around the same time. There was a pic floating around of Bob Tucci holding it.

Norm Epley also restored one of those old Cerveny tubas in the last year or two, IIRC

hrender wrote:The Sander rotary CC is pretty cool.

Anyone play this one at BBC? Does it have the 2+3 4th v setup?