Difficult appraisal:

[J.c. Sherman]

Difficult appraisal:

A 1979 "Mirafone" 184 4-U CC. Valves have the DVS plastic linkages and are in good shape. The rest of the horn is pretty rough - most of the lacquer is intact but marred, scuffed, cracked, etc. Several leadpipe dents, one deep. Multitudes of little dents, and some 1/2 dent-erased big ones in the top and bottom bows. One guard has a strip about 4 inches unsoldered. Some burned lacquer on the bell ferule from having the bell removed. Plays great, but kind of an eyesore, and only 4 valves.

Any ideas on a value? It's kind of tricky to find anything similar, since the 4v versions of any CC are not very common (save for Alex 163s and Conn 2J/3Js).

Post or PM your thoughts... I'm floundering a bit on this. It's a nice little horn, but ewwwww....

J.c.S.

[imperialbari]

My method of determining the price for a possible buy is like this:

What is the potential of this instrument? What will I pay for that?

Then I estimate the costs of bringing the instrument up to working at its potential level.

I deduct the latter from the former.

Klaus

[windshieldbug]

Just an opinion, but I have a 74 184-4U, still with plastic, and it's my best small horn.

It was my first tuba, and came in that black vinyl Mirafone dent bag, so it's taken a beating over the years. Replaced the bag, but not the dents. Looks like crap, but still sounds great, and there's nowhere I wouldn't take it.
Slots are so wide you can bend the pitch more than a tone with the right mouthpiece, so no pulling of ANYTHING.

Killer in a quintet, and you can rattle the ceiling any time you want to.

[bort]

Baltimore Brass has a "repairman's special" Miraphone 187:

untitled.PNG

Not sure what shape it's in or how it plays, but maybe this is a reference for retail price?

[tbn.al]

When the the plastic linkage become standard? Mine is metal.

[J.c. Sherman]

fwiw (back in the 1970's), I bought a 184-4U-CC brand new, added a 5th valve to it, sold it, bought another ("like" new) 184-4U-CC, and added a different style 5th valve to it. The first one now belongs to Ron Bishop...unless he's sold it.


_______________________________
*stands for Direct _________...?? System (Voodoo...??)

I believe the DVS stands for "Direct Valve Stroke". I have a catalogue from that period - I'll check it out.

And yes, Bishop still has that magnificent 184.

J.c.S.

[Rick Denney]

For a while (1970's), they were putting the *"DVS" linkage on the CC instruments and still putting the S-arm linkage (with nylon bushing) on the BBb instruments.

My Bb 186 (dating from 1977 or 78) had DVS linkages. The plastic sockets were all cracked, too. Maybe someone had used the wrong oil. I replaced them.

Rick "who has seen other Bb 186's with them, too" Denney

[cjk]

REALLY NICE 5 valve Mirafone 184 CCs SELL for just under $4k, usually in the ballpark of around $3950. Quite decent ones can be purchased for around $3500.

Also consider that adding a fifth valve costs $1000 to $1500.

Then subtract the amount of work it would take to make it look nice, even if completely unlaquered. The lacquer sounds like it's toast.

So, since the horn sounds rough, I'd use the worst of the numbers above. Without seeing the horn, I'd guess at least $500 for repairs. That could be low or high. Even if you have the skills to do the repairs yourself, you should not consider your time to be free.

$3500
- $1500
- $ 500 (this could change things a lot)
==========
$ 1500

Personally, I don't think that I would even offer that much. It needs a lot of work and it's missing a valve.


Just for reference:

Here's a four valve 184 CC that was decent, advertised at @$2400, $2000 if you come pick it up.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4369&p=31468&hilit= ... ale#p31468" target="_blank" target="_blank

Here's a really nice 184 5 valve CC that sold for $3950:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34132" target="_blank" target="_blank

Here's another quite nice 184 5 valve CC listed for $3900:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32899&p=289314&hili ... le#p289314" target="_blank" target="_blank