Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

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bort
6 valves
6 valves
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Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 11:08 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by bort »

Hey everyone,

Time to sell my AWESOME Willson 3050-RZ, to make room for another awesome tuba. This tuba is GREAT, and if you need a large CC tuba for large ensembles... it should make you very happy. I would have loved to have a tuba like this in college!

Here is a photo of it... much more available by email, and I can send anything specific you want to see.

Image

Basic overview:
  • Large 5/4 CC tuba
  • 5 rotary valves (left-hand fifth)
  • 19.68" bell diameter
  • 0.768" bore
  • 37" height
  • Weighs about 25 pounds.
  • ^Heavy, yes, but the build quality is exceptional.
  • Built in 2000, was previously owned and used professionally
  • Excellent condition. One small fingernail sized ding on a large branch, and a small amount of wear to the silver from a previous owner, who had moved the (now-replaced) linkages to the left hand.
  • Very little "wear" and only a few tiny, tiny marks. Again, exceptional build quality and professional ownership.
These tubas are quite rare -- I can only think of about 5 of them in the US. It is the same body and bell as the common piston-valve 3050, but with a rotary valve section. The piston and rotary Willson tubas are similar in a lot of ways, but I find that the rotary Willson has a more focused and "German-rotary" type of sound. Intonation and response are excellent -- I am NOT the kind of person to pull slides constantly, nor am I the person who will tell you how many cents flat/sharp every partial is. What I can say, is that in practice and in real world situations, it takes very little effort for me to play it well and in-tune.

The entire range of the tuba speaks clearly and sounds full. No funky response for certain notes. Low register is seismic -- clear, full, and easy to play with the fingerings you would expect.

One thing that sets this tuba apart for me is the projection -- the sound gets out front in a hurry. Some people feel like the physical weight of Willson tubas leads to a lack of responsiveness and feedback to the player. I think there is a small difference in "feel," yes, but it's very minor, and at the benefit of projection. (By contrast, I have played some thin-metal Cerveny tubas, where things resonated so much, I wondered how much energy was actually leaving the bell of the tuba.) IMO, anything "different" about the Willson seems easily resolved during the first hour or two of owning a new tuba (the whole "when I do this, it sounds like that" concept).

I've done some work and put a fair amount of $,$$$ into upgrading this tuba over the last few years:
  • New valve linkages installed in 2017. I ordered brand new parts from Willson in Switzerland, and had them installed locally. Everything is new from the stop arms through the paddles. Parts + installation cost me around $1000. You can have the box of old parts, too.
  • Prior to ordering the new linkages, I had a new 5th valve "paddle" fabricated by a local repairman. It works just fine, but the fifth valve paddle and linkage are not stock parts. The brand-new Willson parts are still sitting in the box, and will be sent to the new owner, who can choose whether to have them installed.
  • Rotax valve conversion done in Spring 2018 by Martin Wilk. (Details here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=86633&p=649541" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank) The Rotax valves have extra metal which is intended to give a "full geometric volume" of air through the valve. In reality, the tuba played great, but the valves were a little heavy. Martin is the valve expert, and he knew just what to do... cutting away the extra metal from the valves, they now are the usual C-shaped valve. This reduced the mass and made the valves faster and lighter. It also seems to have improved the already-great response and "blow" of the tuba, which weren't even problematic before. Everything works great now! This work cost me about $500.
  • A previous owner installed a Dillon AGR. I have the original Willson receiver, and will send that to the buyer as well (plus both AGR bits)
  • In Fall 2015, I bought a new Götz gig bag for this tuba. Gotz bags are high-end top-loading bags made in Germany, custom-sized for the tuba. It is in excellent condition. This cost around $450.
As of August 2017, I was quoted a price of $21,000 to buy this tuba brand new.

My price for everything is $7,500.

The tuba is located in Minneapolis, for local pickup. I truly don't think that I could stomach shipping this tuba!

PM for more information!
Last edited by bort on Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
bort
6 valves
6 valves
Posts: 11222
Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 11:08 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500

Post by bort »

Bump! PM me if you are interested or have questions.
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bort
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Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500

Post by bort »

Here are some photos that I took this afternoon:

https://tinyurl.com/Willson3050RZ
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bort
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500

Post by bort »

On hold!
tclements
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Hold

Post by tclements »

Bumpo for a GREAT tuba. I had one but sold it due to the weight. Now I have 2 new hips and could handle it.
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bort
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by bort »

Sold!
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binlove
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by binlove »

Congratulations on the sale!
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joshealejo
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by joshealejo »

I wonder what you will get (or got already) now my friend. Best of luck always ;)
Some stuff
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oedipoes
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by oedipoes »

bort wrote:Sold!
Congratulations! Please share what you will have as replacement!
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adelarosa
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Re: Willson 3050RZ 5/4 rotary CC: $7500 -- Sold

Post by adelarosa »

Bort'll most likely need help choosing a new axe. Thus: http://mikeshirk.weebly.com/buying-a-tuba.html" target="_blank
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