Fine old tuba: Schuster & Co. Markneukirchen (horn dorn)

[Søren]

I recently bought an old tuba for the fun of it. It was a mess after standing in a shed for 30 years, but had not sustained any serious damage (even the bell kranz is still fully attached). I have cleaned it, aligned the valves (no significant wear) and managed to free some of the slides. The markings on the bell are as following:

[Drawing of a crown]
Sächsische
Musikinstrumenten-Manufaktur
Schuster&Co
Markneukirchen

And how does it play?? Surprisingly well!! Just as good as any of these 4/4 BBb German tubas. Good response, nice clean slotting and good stable pitch. Only downsides are a small mouthpiece receiver and the fact that the 4'th valve is tuned to a 23 combination. Is has scratches and heavy denting troughout but still has some good music left in it.
Have any on this board ever seen tubas of this old brand of German instruments? Any idea of when it was made?

Anyway, I thought that you all might enjoy the info together with some pictures.







I am proposing a new therm for these tubas: (Old) F.A.R.T. ((Old) Fine *** Rare Tuba)

Klaus, I will send you some good quality photos some time next week for documentation purposes.

[imperialbari]

There are people out there able to tell the exact history of B&S. I am not among them, and one TubeNetter having the connections, Kurt, sadly is gone. Yet it appears like Sächsische Musikinstrumenten-Manufaktur was THE, or at least one of the, B&S predecessors. Yet the flanges don’t have the B&S shape yet. Also the 2nd slide shape looks like old Cerveny.

This one will be the first BBb tuba from that maker represented in my gallery. So i am looking forward to the photos.

Klaus