F Alto Horns

[stardude82]

Hi all,

I picked up a rotary F alto horn off eBay, a Mirafone<sic> 35W, to play peck horn parts in with a German brass bands I played. It basically a like a regular Bb 3 valve tenor horn which has been shrunk and has a tenor shank. After about 5 minutes I made the realization that you could do a reverse Eb tuba trick on it and play Bb treble clef tenor horn parts by changing it to bass clef and adding a few flats. Its sounds great with the group playing a Bb part, plays reasonably in tune with a little slide pulling but it has the limitation of only being able to get down to a C and sharp.

So my question is, is there anybody that makes (or made) 4 valve rotary f alto horn? Or a 4 valve f alto horn at all? Can you chop down a 4 valve Bb tenor?

The closest thing I've seen is a Cerveny in Eb, Miraphone stopped making my model 15 years ago or so.

[Chuck(G)]

So my question is, is there anybody that makes (or made) 4 valve rotary f alto horn? Or a 4 valve f alto horn at all? Can you chop down a 4 valve Bb tenor?

A high-end 4-valve F alto is going to be pretty hard to find; Eb altos are much more common.

At any rate, Kanstul makes a very nice 4-valve piston-action Eb alto:

http://www.kanstul.net/pages/instrument ... t1540m.htm

I'm assuming that you're not talking about marching brass, BTW.

[windshieldbug]

You may wish to expand your instrument-type search; for example, there are F/Eb trombones, some with a "bass" Bb trigger, or even 3/4 valved,
also, there are double high F/Bb "French" horns, which would could do the trick admirably... even with an alto mouthpiece

[stardude82]

Thanks for the help. The left handed alto horn looks pretty does ridiculous next to a full size kaiser bariton.

If anybody else knows, how is high end on a Bb tenor horn compare to a regular euph? Or are there too many other variables to consider?