Check out the unusual bell shape on this Helicon!

[David Richoux]

A small band playing in Marseille - I don't think I have ever seen a helicon with this bell shape before!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M498Bmoqxe4

[imperialbari]

When I first started following German eBay in 1999, there were lots of these BBb helicons for sale originally coming from Russian military surplus after the withdrawal from GDR.

They are the equivalents of what you may call stove pipe bells on plain tubas.

This specific instrument has its tubing arranged after the Schediwa of Odessa-Ukraine circa 1885 patent for a Herculesophone, where all tubing but for the large back bow is in front of the player.

Klaus

[The Big Ben]

A guy would have to play that thing well because, with the way that bell is pointed, someone could throw a grapefruit right into the bell and shut you up!

[Donn]

Klaus, how do these tubas sound? Are they worth considering if a purchasing opportunity should arise or would a person be better off using a piece of wax paper and a comb as an instrument?

I bet that one could sound better than it did.

Some of the Russian versions I saw pictures of (also on German eBay) had freakishly open bells, the way I remember it they looked like better than 18 inches with only a hint of flare. That seems like trouble, acoustically speaking, but of course I never played one.

[imperialbari]

I haven’t heard one live since 1961 or 1962, but I still remember it being extremely ugly, but very efficient in laying down the beat in a marching band.

The original surplus storage of Russian military instruments apparently dried out around 2004 or 2005. Now these instruments only surface occasionally at grossly exaggerated prices. I kind of regret not having bought some of the small rotary brasses (cornets, trumpets) as the Russians used some wraps rarely seen on Western instruments.

Klaus