Nirschl CC 6/4 York Model - hand picked by Scott Mendoker

[Joel Bristor]

Nirschl York model. About one year old, but played little of that time. I bought this from Scott Mendoker last winter. Since that time I have only played it a few times in my studio so the condition is unchanged from when I bought it. As I am a part time freelance player, I simply cannot justify keeping such a fine tuba for the rare occasions where it would be useful. Most of my playing is best handled on a smaller CC or one of my EEb tubas.

As Scott mentioned in his post on the main TubeNet, he hand picked this tuba at the factory. I believe Scott used it to compete for the NY Phil vacancy before deciding to part with it. It is an outstanding, responsive tuba that plays very well in tune with only minor slide adjustments on a couple of notes.

The condition is great. There are a few very minor nicks and signs of where Matt Walters removed a small shipping (customs inspection) dent in the first branch. I think Matt used a dent magnet so there are a few ripples. These could easily be smoothed if the tuba ever needs to be disassembled in that area. The silver plating is in great shape.

A custom shipping case and Cronkhite gig bag are included.

Given the cost of this fine tuba, I feel inclined to provide a detailed breakdown of why I found Scott’s price of $19,000 fair and why I still consider it to be reasonable. The current price for this model is 15,000 Euro (about $18,350 today according to xe.com). That price does not include the case ($700+), bag ($325), 4.2% import duty ($770). I’m also sure that Scott’s travel expenses were much higher than the standard $400 shipping cost not to mention the value of his time in selecting this tuba. In other words, if you sat at home and ordered one of these it would take quite a while and would cost about $20,450 delivered to your door. It might be in slightly better shape, but would not be hand picked.

Sure, I am not offering a huge price break over new, but this tuba is available now and was selected by a professional from an entire production run. Few people get the chance to do that and to work with the maker to make final adjustments on their tuba.

I am located in Maryland and will gladly arrange appointments for all serious buyers to play this tuba. In the event that it does not sell fairly quickly, I will consider accepting a trade for a relatively small part of the sale price.

Please write with any questions. I will post photos as time permits.

Joel Bristor
jbristor@comcast.net