This tuba produces a surprisingly large and beautiful tone quality and is priced to sell. Here are some links to audio file samples of how it sounds: (PC users: Click a link below then select "Play this song". Mac users: Click a link below then select "download this song".)
SOUND CLIPS:
York CC Tuba Sample No. 1 Bordogni Etude http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=1455289&T=7204
York CC Tuba Sample No. 2 Fast Chromatic, a short Bydlo excerpt, & The Price is Right http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=1455296&T=5177
I located the tubing for the 5th rotor. There is an outer slide and an inner slide, two 90° elbows, one slide crook, six ferules, plus several braces. These parts are all new stock purchased from Walter Nirschl and sent from Germany with the rotor that is on the tuba. The tubing will have to be cut to the proper length before attaching to the rotor.
Here is a closeup of the 5th rotor. After looking closer, I can see that the valve is serviceable as is. The bottom cap has plenty of room to come off without hitting the tubing that is closest to it. It can easily be rotated but I think its final position should be dependent on the way the crooks and tubing are arranged when attaching to the rotor.
Here are a couple of pics taken on 8-17-12 of the valves. The valves in the second pic are rotated 180°. There were some older pics that I swapped out for these. I cleaned the valves right before taking these pics. The older pics over-emphasized the flaws and I think these may under-emphasize them a bit.
Here is a pic of a set of new valve stems for this tuba. The are the correct length for these valves and their threads are larger than the ones that are on the valves. In order to install them, the size of the hole in the top of the valve will need to be re-tapped.
Here are some new pics taken of the valve section on August 17, 2012. Most of the solder has been cleaned off of the braces and tubing joints.
Detailed Description:
The bell and main body are from a pre-WWII York Eb “Monster” and is finished in satin silver. The bell diameter is 19 ½ inches. The valve section and first branch are from an Olds BBb 4-valve front action tuba and is finished in brass lacquer. The bore at the first valve is approximately 0.650 inches and is similar to that of the Conn CC that Harvey Phillips used to play. The valve tubes have been professionally cut and aligned to play in tune to A- 440. The rotor was made by Walter Nirchl and was new when I put it on the tuba. The lead pipe and mouthpiece receiver are unfinished brass and were new when I put this instrument together five years ago. The new owner will need to fashion linkage in order to operate it. Actually the 5th valve doesn't have to function at all, because this is currently a very good all around 4-valve tuba.
Although this tuba is a combination of parts from two different instruments, there are no places on this horn where the diameter of the pieces don't fit properly. There is only one place on the open bugle where I had to cut the tubing, and that is where the rotor valve joins the York body with the Olds valve section. It was a great surprise to me that things fit together so well for this horn when I was making the modification. In the design stage I measured the bore size of the rotor valve, then located the place on each of the two main parts that matched the rotor bore. The delightful discovery was that the parts fit together in a perfectly ergonomic way. I didn't have to bend, shrink or expand anything! Even the length of the lead pipe is a perfect match with the bores of both the valve section and mouthpiece receiver. In addition, I didn't even have to force it to fit in the desired space available. And finally, I didn't have to trim any piece of the tubing in order for the horn to play to the standard A 440.
This tuba has a very good tonal center and scale. All notes play easily in tune using normal fingerings. (Exception: The notes of the 12th partial [high G, Gb & F above the staff] are flat and require alternate fingerings as is common for CC tubas. [I never play notes that high on a CC tuba.] Also, the 10th partial notes (high E & Eb) above the staff) may require alternate fingerings depending on the player and mouthpiece.) One great attribute to this tuba is that it has that famous York sound that many manufacturers attempt to emulate. All the slides are in good alignment and work well. (The 2nd Slide is a little harder to pull than I'd like but it shouldn't take much work to lap it in.) Valves one and three have been vented in order to be able to adjust the corresponding slides while playing.
Condition: All dents were removed from the York bell and body prior to my purchasing the parts, but there are a few remaining small dents that can easily be removed for low cost if that sort of thing is important to you. The valve section didn't appear to have been used very much when I first bought it, and it didn't appear to have ever been dented much at all in its previous life. The lacquer finish is mostly gone but the brass on all parts is in very good condition. There are no patches or cracks or places the metal is thin or appears to have been buffed. Valve compression is good on all valves and they work well. I replaced the felts and corks when it was sonically cleaned five years ago. The instrument has not been played very much since I did the conversion to CC. (I am retired and simply don't play much any more.) The valve plating is beginning to chip in places, but it isn't affecting compression. If the buyer wants the valves to look like they are brand new, he can send the four pistons to Anderson Silver Plating and have them re-plate the valves to the same diameter they are now. (The price for that was only $25 per valve a couple of years ago.) I use normal petroleum-based valve oil on these valves. Some (2?) of the valve stems are soldered into the valves , and they function properly. If you want them to screw on and off, then Anderson Silver Plating can fix that and put on new valve stems. (I don't know the cost for this but it isn't necessary to have it done.) When I was putting this horn together I was focused on design and sound, so (as shown in the pics), I didn't clean off all the extra solder. That can easily be done with 1,000 grit sand paper. (edit: I am in the process of cleaning and removing extra solder from this tuba and will post pics shortly.) It is solidly put together and is tight with no leaks.
Recommended uses: I think this would make a great quintet horn. It has a relatively small bore with large bell, so even though its plenty big enough for concert band or small orchestra, it isn't so big that members of a chamber ensemble will be complaining. It would make a great solo horn if you do your solo work on CC. It would not be good for Prokofiev 5, however because of the demand for playing very low with a very big sound at the same time. This tuba will play the notes but it probably won't do so with a big enough sound to get the desired results on a piece like the Prokofiev. It would make a very good main tuba for a college level music major however, and would work in certain settings at the professional level as well. The addition of the 5th valve will make it easier if you want to play your chromatic scale all the way down to the fundamental note, but I've found (on the CC tubas I've played) that I rarely ever used the 5th valve except on a couple of orchestral pieces and an occasional low note in concert band.
Here is a pic taken 8-2-12. (The mouthpiece is not included with the sale.)
Here are some pics taken of this cool looking tuba at Christmas time. Please note that these pics are a year and a half old, and there is solder shown in these older pics that had not been cleaned off yet; but the silver had been recently polished so I wanted to show it in the ad.
This pic shows the beautiful engraving on the bell. Note that is has not yet been turned around. (It was a top action Eb tuba in an earlier life.) You can see the Nirschl Rotor in place without the valve tubing.
Here is a close-up of the engraving on the bell.
I think this is my favorite view of this tuba. (Note that the 1st and 3rd slides are on top for easy adjustment on-the-fly.)
Here is another view:
