bububassboner wrote:I have heard rumors that Lee stofer can get you upright bells for these horns. Or you could get Kanstul to make one for this horn.
That would be one and the same; Lee would get them from Zig. From what I understand, they are made by slicing the Contra bells at the appropriate spot and soldering on a collar. Now, at one point in time Lee was considering making an upright bell for my Martin out of a 5/4 Rudy bell he had in the shop, but that is probably long gone. I do miss my Martin, although real-world paying applications with it were rather limited. One of the reasons I never went the upright bell route on it was that it would still point the "wrong" direction due to the upright valves.
Hey guys, I don't want an upright bell for this horn, I want to sell this tuba because the comunity band I play in wants to raise some money to spend on other things. We have already found an older Miraphone 186 to use for our players. This old Martin is in nice shape and I figured that somebody out there might like to use it for playing in a jazz or polka band or maybe an outdoor gig. But it seems everyone here would rather muck up the thread enough that a potential buyer won't read through it.
Bandmaster wrote:One of the community bands I play with and am a board member, the Pomona Conce[r]t Band in Southern California... wants to sell or trade their 1930's era 3 valve Martin recording tuba. What we want is to obtain is a... tuba with an upright bell for members to use if they don't own a horn. We don't need it to be new or perfect but we do want a good player. The conductor does not want a bell front horn mixed in with the upright bell horns in the section.
Sorry! The original post didn't sound like you already had one, just that you wanted a bell-up horn that the section could use. I threw everyone off by suggesting that it could be converted as a possible solution.
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
Yes, we recently found the 186 for a decent price. The cost of having a bell made for this old Martin would be more than we paid for the Miraphone. And it would still only have three valves if we did that. Jazz or polka would be the ideal use for this old beast, not symphonic band (this community band plays serious charts).
I don't think $1400 is at all unreasonable for that horn. I used to have one just like it, although mine had been overhauled and relacquered. I think I sold it for around $2k. Mine didn't have the original tuning bits like this one appears to have, so I ended up using a couple of Conn sousaphone bits. These were made with a short leadpipe that required the use of bits to play, but at least it made mouthpiece position more flexible for people of different sizes.
I found this to be essentially the in tune version of a Conn 20J. It has the presence and sound that I always liked in those big old horns, without the intonation quirks that the old Conns all seem to have. In my experience putting an upright bell on it loses some of the sound quality. The only reason I sold it was because I picked up an old King 4 valve rotary BBb recording bass (model 1291) for those times when I want that sound. Good luck finding a buyer. If I were working I would seriously consider it.
THE 68C HAS MUTATED INTO THE 686 CERVENY IT HAS 4 STRING LINKED VALVES. IT HAS A 17" BELL WITH NO TRIM RING. THE LACQUER IS GOOD BUT DARK. I LL TRY TO SHOOT A FEW PICTURES IF YOU LIKE
pigman wrote:THE 68C HAS MUTATED INTO THE 686 CERVENY IT HAS 4 STRING LINKED VALVES. IT HAS A 17" BELL WITH NO TRIM RING. THE LACQUER IS GOOD BUT DARK. I LL TRY TO SHOOT A FEW PICTURES IF YOU LIKE
RAY
String linked valves... unfortunately that is a problem. If this was to be my personal horn, no problem. But this is to be a loaner horn to be used by whomever comes in and needs it. To expect that they would know how to care for and maintain string linkages is a little unrealistic. Unless, of course, they are former french horn players.
The original post didn't sound like you already had one, just that you wanted a bell-up horn that the section could use. I threw everyone off by suggesting that it could be converted as a possible solution.
