sugawi wrote:The seller will not answer my question about the length (18ft vs. 9ft) of the instrument. Here is his response:
"This is a wonderful playing instrument , even though we designed it for a small person, Bb not BBb , will play with a large tone as a $5000.00 Euphioum"
So my conclusion it is 9ft.
If this is the horn M&M had at TUSABTEC, it's 9'.
My first thought when I saw it was, "Hey! a M-W travel tuba clone!"
First clue that it wasn't a tuba was my large shank euph mpc fit the receiver.
Second clue was that it got stuffy on the Eb one line below the staff and got worse as I went down from there.
Third clue was I couldn't get anything below pedal E (octave below the staff) to so much as peep, much less speak.
So it ain't a BBb tuba, but overall, it's not a bad non-compensating euph: pretty free-blowing from bottom of staff F through F an octave above the staff; started to get stuffy at D below the staff: below that, nothing; slotting from F# above the staff on up was a bit spotty, but that could have been operator error. Intonation was decent, with nothing unmanageable (unlike the Kanstul euphs, which were anywhere from 19-31 cents sharp on the 3rd and 6th partials).
At ~$1200, I could see a potential market for doublers who prefer rotary valves to pistons; beyond that, I don't see much of a market. For better or worse, the euph world has largely abandoned the valve front configuration in favor of the 3+1 or 4-top, and the ergonomics of the thing are just different enough from 4-front piston valves that I don't see it appealing to euphers who prefer valve-front euphs.
But, hey, I'll give 'em credit for trying something different.
