What is your instrument history?

[ai698]

Let's see:
6th grade- Holton Collegiate Cornet, Conn or Reynolds bell front 3v baritone (I think)
7th-8th grade- King bell front 3v baritone
9th grade- King 3B straight tenor trombone
10th grade- Olds bell front 3v baritone, Conn fiberglass sousaphone, King 3B trombone
11th grade- Olds bell front 3v baritone, Conn fiberglass sousaphone, King brass sousaphone, Besson bell front compensating euphonium, King 1231 tuba
12th grade- King brass sousaphone, King 1231 tuba
College (Undergrad and Grad)- Rudolf Meinl RM10, King brass sousaphone, Yamaha YEB321 Eb tuba, Rudolf Meinl RM9, B&S PT10 F, Conn Bass Trombone (the one with the tuning device on the slide, cool)
Now- see signature

[Daryl Fletcher]

[tbn.al]

I'm kind of in agreement with scooby on this but I made the list for my own information so I'll go ahead and share it. Not that anyone should care. 50 years of playing means lots of horns.

Trombone
Conn Director – 1959 to 1961 rental
Olds Recording – 1961 to 1964 HS horn – traded for 88H after I lost a marching band duel with a baritone bell.
Conn Elkhart 88H – 1964 to ‘65 College - bigger yes, better?
Conn 60H – 1966 School horn, Bruce Nelson suggested I switch to bass trombone
Yamaha single trigger – 1967 to 1972 first bass I owned, as good as the Holton
Holton TR158 1972 to 1975 – after grad school needed to go back to tenor for an extended gig, 6 piece dance band at the world famous Bella Vista CC
Bach 42B – 1984 to 1999 – Quit for a while then back with a church group
Conn 73H – 1999 joined a trombone choir went back to bass
Bach 50BO3 – 1999 – 2000 went to independent valves
Besson 943R/Hagmann – 2000 to present – current horn for quintet, trombone choir and symphony IMHO the most underrated bass trombone on the market.
Olds Recording -2005 to present – nostalgia took hold – sweet little 1955 model
Olds 0-25 – 2006 to present – best trombone I have ever played. This one is from 1974 and a joy.

Tuba
Conn stencil Eb 3v 1902 off eBay – 2001 – traded it plus cash to Lee Stofer for his Conn stencil. The church director wanted more a tuba sound on the bass line. She just didn’t like chain saws a bit.
Pan American Eb 4v 1902 – 2001 to 2002- Realized after many clams that my ear/brain connection was not made in the key of Eb. This was too good a horn to get rid of, but I traded it back to Lee for a BBb.
Bielefelder 4V BBb – 2002 to present – Lee had this little Ernst David .690 bore 4v BBb and I just had to have it. It is a neat little horn, 13lbs, great for stand up work. Lee says it reminds him of a baby Alex.
Mirafone 184 4v BBb – 2005 to present – Played it 5 minutes and fell in love. It is a 1976 model and my principal horn now. Quintet is about 80% tuba and 20% bass trombone.
Yamaha 621 BBb – 2006 – Tried to replace the 184 but couldn’t.

Miscellaneous
Weril soprano trombone – 2002 to present - looks cute on the stand in the studio and nobody wants to buy it.
F. Besson/Kanstul .570 bore Bb trumpet – 2002 to present- gets played very little but when I need a trumpet to fill in at church I grab it and suffer along with everyone else.
Marzan 4v comp euphonium – 2006 to present – found it in a pawn shop and couldn’t resist. Lee has it now, cleaning, tweaking and adjusting.

[chhite]

Elementary/middle school-Bundy trumpet

7th grade-Blessing 3v BBb tuba, sousaphone with Wenger stand(what a contraption that was)

High school-Miraphone 186 (beat up, but man, that played great), Holton 3/4 convertible BBb, King sousas, one brass, one Tupperware; started picking up electric bass with a Peavey T40, Ibanez Roadstar II, and Rickenbacker 4001 basses

College-purchased late 1960s Miraphone 186 BBb, later sold for Cerveny 693 BBb, King Duo Gravis bass bone. Sold the Rick for a Peavey DynaBass Unity

Army/pro life-sold the Cerveny, switched to CC, bought a Boehm & Meinl rotary CC for a few months, sold that and purchased a sweet Miraphone 188. Sold the King bass bone and bought a used Bach 50BLG bass bone and still have it. Sold the 188 to finance a Frankentuba project with Lee Stofer; 1911 Conn 15J body and MW Deck valveset. Sold that a few years later to buy the best Rudolf Meinl 4/4 CC that I've ever played. Matter of fact, it's the best CC I've ever played. Also spec'd and got a 5/4 Rudi F. Sold the Peavey bass, bought a Carvin LB76, recently sold to purchase a Lakland Skyline Darryl Jones signature bass. Amp is Hartke 3500 head and Aguilar GS112 cabinet.

The Army continues to provide great equipment for me and my section. Currently I've got a B&S GR41, a Rudi 5/4 F, similar to mine, the inevitible Conn 20K, and a Lakland 55-94 Deluxe bass.

[tofu]

-

[joshwirt]

Hmmm......lets see if I can remember.....

7th grade: Beat up, King 3-valve BBb

8th grade: moved to a spanking new 3/4 Yamaha BBb

All of HS: early 70's Miraphone 186 BBb...loved that horn

College: started on a Yamaha 641 BBb and then to back to the 186

First CC I owned: B&S PT-5 CC--a true beast

First F I owned: Yamaha 621 F (I still miss that horn, John)

Period between College pt. 1 and pt. 2 (all bought and sold):

Getzen G50
Yamaha YFB-822S
Yamaha 321 euph
Besson 943 bass bone
Hirsbrunner HB-2P (sold to buy another, better one)
MW 45-SLP

Came back to school with a different HB-2P (I REALLY miss that horn, Chris) and an incredible B&S F (pre-Perantucci)

Played those horns in the UK for a year then decided to make another change.....

Bought a Yorkbrunner which I ended up selling to purchase my current aresenal:

MW 2165S
B&S F
Miraphone 1261 EEb (3+1)
MW 451 euph
Getzen 1052 bass bone

[tubapress]

Jr. High
Olds BBb sousaphone (played much better after I removed several wads of paper, a soda can and dried up apple core from bell!)

High School
King 2341 3-valve BBb(old design)
Mirafone 185-4U CC with BBb conversion tubing (first tuba I owned)

Undergrad
Mirafone 185-4U CC, which I eventually sold to buy a...
Mirafone 186-5U CC, which I eventually sold to buy a...
Rudy Meinl 5/4 CC - 5 rotors

Grad
Rudy Meinl 5/4 CC - 5 rotors
B&S/Perantucci 5-rotor Symphonic F
Conn 3J 4 pistons CC (an experiment that never really worked for me personally)

Pro Life
Rudy Meinl 5/4 CC - 5 rotors - eventually traded into BBC
B&S/Perantucci 5-rotor Symphonic F - eventually traded into BBC
Mirafone 184 5U CC (another experiment..got it cheap, but it just wasn't that good of a 184)
Rudy Meinl 4345 4P+1R CC (CURRENT)
Meinl Weston 45SLP F (CURRENT)

[Richard Murrow]

OK, I feel horribly guilty doing this and the sad part is that I'm may have missed a couple of instruments, but here goes. I no longer have all of these as most were sold to keep the habit feed. All of the horns that I am currently playing are Miraphones, but I do have a couple of other brands around. Obsessive, yes, but I'm happy and this is healthier than booze or other addictions.

Instruments:
Bundy student trombone
Conn Director trombone
Yâ€

[Mark E. Chachich]

Elementry School -
Olds Baritone (I actually wanted to play the tuba!)

Jr. High School -
Olds Baritone (7th grade)
Olds tuba - BB flat (8th grade - I finally got to play the tuba!)

High School -
Olds tuba BB flat (9th and 10th grade)
Walter Sear BB flat made by Cerveny (11th and 12th grade)

College -
Walter Sear BB flat made by Cerveny (freshman)
Alexander 163 CC (soph, junior, senior)
York Monster E flat (senior)
Kay M-2 String Bass (senior)
(college was back in the mid to late 70's for me)

after college
Alexander 163 CC (I did most of my professional playing on this tuba. When I play [not very often anymore] this is still generally my tuba of choice.)
Meinl Weston 32 CC (added after I changed careers)
York Monster E flat
Kay M-2 String Bass ( I played a fair amount of bass jobs)

best,
Mark

[Donn]

- round 1: expelled from flutaphone class in 3rd grade
- round 2: brief struggle with school clarinet in 6th grade.
- round 3: does voice count as an instrument?
- round 4: 70s, 80s - bass recorder, flute, bass clarinet in small groups
- round 5: 80s - string bass in small orchestra
- round 6: 80s - alto/bass/eb contra/bb contra clarinet in band
- round 7: 80s, 90s - tuba: Olds 099 beater, Miraphone 190 BBb, (Reynolds?) sousaphone, Conn 40K.
- round 8: 90s - Couf bass saxophone
- round 9: 2000-present - tuba returns: Orsi Eb, Czech F and Eb helicons. Also '50s King Zephyr baritone saxophone, '20s Evette tenor.

Plus some junk I've never played in public.

[Wyvern]

Playing with brass bands
Around 1978 - Very old beat up B&H 3 valve BBb
1980 - new Haag 3 valve BBb
1989 - Besson 700 series (non-compensated) 4 valve BBb

Extended playing to wind bands and orchestras
1992 - Besson 981 Eb
1998 - Besson Prototype 3 valve Eb c1870 (for marching/standing gigs)
2000 - B&S 3181 Eb
2003 - B&S 3098 PT-6 5/4 CC
2004 - Melton 2040/5 Eb (standard yellow brass)
2004 - * old Hermann Haag Eb (for marching/standing gigs)
2005 - * B&S 4098 Neptune 6/4 CC
2007 - * B&S 4097 PT-20 4/4 CC
2007 - * Melton 2040/5 Eb (hand-made gold brass)

* instruments held today

[finnbogi]

I only started playing in my first year of junior college, so this is a rather short story.

Tubas:
1995-1997: Yamaha 103 B flat tuba, owned by my music school.
1997-2000: Yamaha 631 B flat tuba, school-owned.
2000-2001: Besson 3 valve compensating B flat tuba (an old prototype), band-owned.
2001: Miraphone 184 B flat tuba, band-owned.
2001-2003: Besson 982 E flat tuba, band-owned.
2003-present: Besson 981 E flat tuba, my own instrument.

As a traitor to the cause:
2004-present: Willson 2704 euphonium, band-owned.
2005-present: Conn 71H bass trombone, my own.

Top items on my wish list:
A larger rotary B flat tuba.
A 4 valve compensating euphonium.
A smaller rotary E flat tuba.
A Kaiserbariton.

[bearphonium]

My two cents...

Grades 5 and 6: School owned tenor trombone
Grades 7-12: Holton tenor trombone for band
Grade 11 and 12: A very old bass trombone for orchestra
Grade 12: A very old 3 valve Eflat upright that I loved
1st quarter in college: Holton tenor trombone
Next 5 years in college: Old school owned, beautiful double french horn.
1st quarter after college: Old upright, bell front, beat up, three valve BB flat.
Last month: New, knock off Euphonium to play with
Eyes on: Yamaha or Bach 4 valve Euphonium
Time span between college and now: 25 years

[Matthew Gaunt]

...I have a feeling this will be embarrasing!
Some I had for a long time, some were pretty short lived...

Jr High School Horns (owned by the school)- started on Conn bell front 3 valve baritone, 1st tuba was a conn sousa in a stand (used to move the neck over and play some stuff on euph while still inside the sousa; was fun until the day that both horns and I fell off the back of the tall riser in the dress rehearsal for the big exchange concert!). Then moved on to MW 11? (4 top action 3/4), and Conn ?J (three front pistons).

High School Horns - 9th/10th grade (owned by the school) - marched with couple different fiberglass and brass sousas, then we got new yamaha convertibles; for tubas got to use a yfb 641? (4 rotary BBb) that was ok, and also 2 great 70's mirafone 186 horns that looked bad but played really well. In 11th grade got my first personal horn - Cerveny Piggy that belonged to Bob Searle and then Jon Sass (should have kept).

College Horns - Kept the Piggy through freshman year and added a Yamaha 321 Eb (non-compensating, and dependent 5th rotor in 4th slide). Sophmore year sold Piggy and got old MW32 (Sam Pilafian thought it was probably Warren Deck's...should have kept).

Here's where it gets interesting (well, maybe messy is a better word - hopefully I won't forget too many...)

After college - Sold MW32, replaced with MW Bell Model (was playing quintet full time) - then traded Bell for MW2144 (older smaller valve set - no 5th valve - was right when they came out).

Picked up an almost dead York Master - had cut to CC - didn't work out too well - got rid of a year or so later; also sold Yamaha Eb...

Sold 2144, replaced with 60's Mirafone 186 5U (was in amazing condition, odd in that it had nickel valve casings, and was gold brass). Added old/little Mirafone F (is that the 180?). Played the 186 for a couple years (Gary Ofenloch always reminded me I should have kept it) and convinced myself that it was too small/bright. Sold 186 (ugh), got Cerveny 601 (think is wasTom McGrady's ). Also got tired of pitch/low register response on Mira F, sold it and got a YFB-621 (very early one).

Liked the YFB a lot, was hoping to find a CC counterpart, got rid of Cerveny and bought a CB50. Added Dave Unland's old Rudy 3/4 CC (via Dave Fedderly - great horn for me, never should have sold; Mike Milnarik please let me know if Jason ever wants to sell it back to me!). I loved things about both of those horns, and was hoping to find something that combined my favorite aspects of both of them, ended up getting rid of both of them (CB50 to someone in New Hampshire) and buying a 2155 (bigger valve vintage). In this time, I also owned/briefly dabbled with another old 186, Rudy 5/4, and a Culbertson piston.

From the 2155, I went to a 2145 that became my main horn for a number of years. While I used it, I also had a Rudy 4/4 that ended up going to Chris Hite (is that the same one you mentioned in this thread? I never felt great on that horn). Also, had the following for a bit in addition: another old Rudy 3/4 (didn't seem that great to me, new owner had valve job done on it and said it plays great now); traded that Rudy for a spare 2145 (seemed like mine was always getting airline damage while on tour, and thought it would be helpfull to have another that never flew) - sold that to a student; picked up a 5 year old TE 186 5U (played really well, should have kept) that went to a student of Jobey Wilson's; picked up two 70's 186 5U's (was going to try to have the bells made detachable so wouldn't have to keep dealing with airlines on oversize) - both went to students who needed horns. Also had a newer MW32 for a while there too.

After a couple years on the 2145, was looking for something that fit me a little better ergonomically, sold the 2145 and bought a CB50. The CB50 I found used from someone in New Hampshire, who had purchased from someone else in New Hampshire, who had purchased it from...me!

Currently playing the CB50 and YFB621 still, added a newer YFB621, and a G50 (from Mike Stephan) since it is much easier to keep one set in Chicago and one in Amherst since I am in both places so much.

Whew, that took so long I think I need to contact the Social Security office about my checks!

Fun thread!
MG

[Steve Inman]

{snip}
Didn't play tuba again until eight years later.
Adult re-beginner (1984):
{unsnip}

Hmmm:

6th grade -- cornet (not very good at it)
7th grade -- switched to large brass BBb sousie, thanks to Mr. James Calvert, Northview Jr HS, Indianapolis
8th-9th grade -- Miraphone 186 BBb
10-11 grade -- Meinl Weston 25 BBb
12th grade (new high school) dabbled with some random horn for basketball pep band only --

Didn't play tuba again until 6 years later -- until about a year after college graduation

1981 -- Miraphone 186 BBb
early 1990s -- a series of used Eb's, culminating with my first ever (and only ever) purchase of a new tuba -- Besson 983 Eb (also briefly owned a YEB-381 Eb)
late 1990s -- switched to Amati 6v rotary F
early 2000s -- switched to YFB-621, then add a Miraphone 4V 186 CC
a couple years ago -- switched to Conn 56J and YEB-381, and picked up a King 2280 euph (present set-up)

Also have a few odd guitars listed below that get used as much or slightly more than the tubas ....

Cheers,

[tubaguy9]

6th grade: 1st Semester: Vito Clarinet (isn't that odd?)
2nd Semester: Jupiter 3-valve Euphonium
7th-8th grade: Old Yamaha YBB-something(I think 321?)3 valve
9th-10th grade: Concert band:Yamaha YBB-321
9th-11th grade:Marching Band: Jupiter Silver Sousa
11th grade Concert band: Old Miraphone CC 4 valve, serial number 7454

[Chen]

Junior high school:
Miraphone 181-6U goldbrass (that's what my first teacher played)

High school:
Miraphone 186-5U CC (school horn, purchased for me as the first tuba student in the music program. They even let me borrow it to the US for college, for a year)

College:
Got my own CC: Hirsbrunner HB-20 (skipped Custom Music and bought it from Switzerland, saved about 3 grand, partly because and they had it ready to ship)

Wanted to trade it for a 1976 HB-2 CC, but parents disagreed.

Sold the 181-6U goldbrass and got my teacher's raw brass Mirafone 181-5U F - a pretty meaningless move, more for sentimental than practical reasons.

Sold the HB-20, bought a new Alex 163G CC from Dillon.

At this point I have switched my major from music to political science. Law career awaits, I'm just "playing" tuba now. Trade them like baseball cards.

Traded the Alex for a new Miraphone 186-5U CC.

Sold the 186 CC.

Sold the 181-5U F.

Vintage W. Meinl Bell model CC. Sold it a few months later.

Besson 981 Eb. Sold it a few months later.

Willson 3050RZ CC. Sold it a few months later.

Got a Bach bass trombone, don't know what I was thinking, but got it real cheap.


Law school:
Dec. of 2006, found a 1977 Hirsbrunner HB-2 CC in pristine condition. And the boy and his tuba live happy ever after...

Don't even get started on mouthpieces...

[oldbandnerd]

Begining band : Bach Mercedes trumpet ( a loner from by brother-in-law. When his brother switched from drums to trumpet I lost my free horn and was moved to baritone because the school had more horns then they did players ... )

Junior and High school : King bent bell 'turds . Nothing exciting here .

Fastforward to current history :
I bought a Weril H980 brand new two years ago . Sold it when I bought the Besson 3 valve compensated six months ago .Two months ago I sold the Besson and bought a 1966 Boosey & Hawkes Imperial . I am done looking for horns .

[Matthew Gaunt]

Picked up an almost dead York Master - had cut to CC - didn't work out too well - got rid of a year or so later

Matthew,

I have one of these jobs in a big cardboard box that I NEVER finished: It has a chopped-off-on-the-bottom-to-fit-the-YM-bottom-bow (fairly rare) "tall model" Michigan York 19" bell. (Of course, the old YM pistons are the same as Hirsbrunner 4/4, but arranged in a Conn-like fan-shape.)

COMPLETELY UNLIKE the way it played as a detachable bell BBb, the sound is LOVELY and the slurring is unbelievably buttery (not Gary ). I have to "blame" all that on that "magical" Michigan York bell...

I got in a TON of brand-new .748" bore crooks (every imaginable width) from Walter Nirschl to finish this project, but never got around to it. I'm curious: Regarding yours: Did the 6th partial "ride up" (similar to the way it does on RM tubas)? I believe I was noticing that tendency when the thing was partially cut and playable (in B natural). I actually played part of a $500 EASTER GIG on that thing pitched in B NATURAL quite a few years ago, just because I LOVED blowing through it.

Because of the 6th partial thing, I was seriously considering making it a mouthpipe-main-slide-up-to-the-left-hand tune-any-note horn...(??)

- Joe

Hi Joe (and all!)

My YM had a great sound, really great response, slurs were really easy too. The horn centered really well, and had even response across all ranges - the issue with mine was that the pitch was all over the place - nothing you could assign any real rules to. We probably just screwed up the taper of the horn too much when we cut it...

[ken k]

circa 1968, I found my dad's Cavalier trombone in my grampop's attic and joined the band in 4th grade. (terrible horn with an old brass slide that hardly worked, the old horn used to gross all the girls out when black globs of spit would come out of the spit valve!)

Got a King Tempo in 6th grade (used that horn for marching band through high school and college and later it became my mailbox post)

9th grade got a King 3B! movin' on up!

Freshman year of college got a Holton TR181 bass bone

First year of teaching got a Conn 5J with all of my big bucks!

First year of grad school got a Benge 190C bone

2nd year of grad school, sold the Conn 5J and bought my Boosey & Hawkes Imperial Eb (still have that one 20 years later!)

sold the Holton 181 and the King 3B and got an Edwards bass bone

after about 6 years I sold the Edwards for more than I paid for it and bought a Getzen 1052 bassbone for less than half the price and used the left over money to buy a BMW motorcycle (midlife crisis!)

King/Cleveland Franken-helicon from harv's happy Horns

traded Harv the King Helicon for a 1924 Pan-American helicon that is to die for.

Also have since bought some more trombones (for my son of course, including a King 3b silver sonic, a Benge 175F, amati alto trombone, jupiter soprano trombone, and a crate electric bass (another mid life crisis)

Sold the Getzen 1052 and bought a Benge 290 bass

I think I am finally set for awhile

Still love my Boosey...

ken k