'90s vintage New York Philharmonic...

ZNC Dandy · Post by **ZNC Dandy** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:45 am

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xzf0rvQa4Mc

Deck playing a lacquerless Yorkbrunner or horn of that ilk. Whatever it is, its not a 2165. And Don Harwood playing one of the largets bass trombones I have ever seen. Enjoy.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:30 am

That's Warren's famous (or infamous) Frankenstein he played with the NY Phil prior to the Meinl-Weston he designed. It's built from Fred Geib's old Conn--Fred Geib was the tuba player with the Phil until the mid-1940s. He died in 1950.

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:37 am

If memory serves, Frankenstein was silver plated with 5 rotors and had a removable bell. Don's bass trombone was setup that he could do a low CC in first position, hence all the plumbing.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:39 am

That's true, but if I remember the pictures from the Fred Geib Tuba Method, the original framework of the tuba was fairly odd looking.

ZNC Dandy · Post by **ZNC Dandy** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:45 am

LoyalTubist wrote:That's Warren's famous (or infamous) Frankenstein he played with the NY Phil prior to the Meinl-Weston he designed. It's built from Fred Geib's old Conn--Fred Geib was the tuba player with the Phil until the mid-1940s. He died in 1950.

I'm pretty sure its a Yorkbrunner. Its not as wide and beefy as a 2165. As for "Frankenstein" it had a detachable bell, and was a shorter, squatter instrument. And of course a rotary instrument. Although i'm sure Warren changed the valve set a few times.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:52 am

Fred Geib's Conn was a rotary instrument, too. American instrument makers quit making rotary valve tubas in the 1930s. DOES ANYONE HAVE A COPY OF THE FRED GEIB METHOD THEY CAN SCAN?

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:56 am

Never mind! I found this on the ITEA site:

Fred Geib and his Conn

Note the bell and the valves!

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:22 pm

I looked at the video again and the tuba Warren was playing had piston valves. The bell is different. But this could still be Frankenstein. I think Warren said it had about five or six transformations.

Sorry for the trippple post!

rodmathews · Post by **rodmathews** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:40 pm

I was studying with Warren at that time, and that is definitely not the Conn Frankentuba.

The instrument in the video is most likely the Yorkbrunner he modified frequently as he was designing the 2165. The bell could be one of a couple of things. It could be the Hirsbrunner bell with the silver buffed off, or it could be a prototype 2165 heavy bell on the Yorkbrunner body.

It was fun seeing him every week and seeing what he had tweaked on the horn. He sounded amazing on anything he played.

Rod