Is this a 184 or a 186?

[vintage7512]

Looks kinda small to me. Anyone know the owner or the horn?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT" target="_blank" target="_blank

[Dan Schultz]

According to the serial number, it's a 1976 horn. I'm not sure when Miraphone moved from the 16 1/2" to the 17" bells on the 186 but IF it was a 185... the bell would be 15" and if it was a 184... the bell would be 14".

I would bet that it's a 186 and the owner just approximated the bell size. Ask him to measure a little more closely or provide the bore diameter at the #2 slide.

[MikeS]

For what it's worth, LMISD shows up on Google as La Marque Independent School District, in the Texas Gulf Coast area. If you are thinking about bidding, you might call the district and ask.

[Dan Schultz]

I'm pretty sure that the OLD (particularly MiraFone) tubas were built with these approximate bell flare diameters:

184 - 14-1/4"

184 - 15"

186 - 16-1/2"

That is my understanding, also. Except for your typo on the 15" bell model number.

Also... the 183 I used to own was slightly over 13". So.... as a quick 'rule of thumb'... I like to think of the bell size in terms of the last digit of the model number plus 10.