Miraphone/Mirafone

WakinAZ · Post by **WakinAZ** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:37 pm

Serial number, older spelling of Miraphone. Search on miraphone AND mirafone AND serial for more fun reading...

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:33 pm

Briefly (oversimplified, but a short answer & the rest of the TNFJ can fill in the details) -- in the "old days," there was one California distributor in the USA of the tubas. To make the brand sound more "German," the distributor asked the factory to spell the name Mirafone on tubas exported to the USA.

After this distributorship ended, the standard spelling of Miraphone was reinstituted.

Same factory, same tubas. Yes, the tuba you are referring to is a 186. I have a detachable bell variant, and mine says Mirafone.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:27 am

It's probably a 186 as they were the most common. The F and the PH spelling are one in the same.... made in the same factory. Sometimes the 184 and 185 models were mistaken for the 186 horns since the initial appearance is nearly identical except for the size. Side by side it's easy to see the difference but having only one horn, the simplest quick test is to measure the bell. Roughly....

14" = 184
15" = 185
16" = 186

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:44 am

"Miraphone" was already copyrighted in the US for a phone-based product, so the marketers thought that "Mirafone" would be cool, and also taken by the American public as a more "German" spelling... voila "Mirafone"!

Same horn, different market

4824 = 1968

Teubonium · Post by **Teubonium** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:55 pm

My TE-186 (Tuba Exchange) was manufactured in 1997. The bell says

Mirafone.