Cerveny CC "Piggy"

[Stephen Shoop]

I just got my Piggy back from the repair shop. Dennis Houghton and Vurl Bland took out some dents and tweaked the valves. The horn looks and plays great!

[Z-Tuba Dude]

I used to own a Piggy, which had intonation issues, but I liked the sound, so I worked with it.

It occurs to me, that I've never seen a Piggy on E-Bay. I wonder what that means?

[Stephen Shoop]

Mine has a nice "gutsy" tone and overall intonation is pretty good.

[TubaTodd]

I'm insanely jealous!!!!!

[TubaTodd]

Has anyone here purchased a NEW piggy in the last couple years? Do you know someone who has? Was it worth the roll of the dice? I'm considering the gamble, but I'm a bit weary.

[toobagrowl]

Seriously Todd....
You recently sold your M-W 6/4 "Deck" CC -- you have more than enough to buy a brand new Cerveny "Piggy" 5-valve CC and still come out with over $2,000 left. And If you get the 4-valve model, you will have over $3,500 left. People tend to hold on to their old ones. You should just call/email Matt @ Dillon's and get his take on the new ones.


http://www.dillonmusic.com/p-1389-cerve ... valve.aspx" target="_blank

http://www.dillonmusic.com/p-1391-cerve ... valve.aspx" target="_blank

[bort]

From a quality standpoint, I don't think you'd have any trouble with a new Cerveny. My Cerveny F is maybe 5 years old, and it's made very well. Other newer Cerveny tubas I've seen and tried have all been similarly nice horns (except for one big F tuba I tried that had funky intonation). Something like the Piggy should be Cerveny's meat and potatoes though.

My guess (total guess) is that your uncertainty would be in holding its value if you want to sell it a few years down the road. If you buy a new Piggy for $5,000, I'm not sure how well the value would hold up compared to other new tubas. There's not a huge market for Piggies to begin with, and the people looking to buy may care (and want to pay) only for "a Piggy" instead of "a new Piggy."

If you don't plan to sell it later (or at least not soon), and you can afford a new one, then hell, go for it! You only go around once...

[Roger Lewis]

The Cerveny piggies are marvelous horns. At one time I owned two of them. My current one is from about 1970 and is the Walter Sear model. The leadpipe has been replaced with a factory original one and the valve mechanism has been replaced with one from a Rudolf Meinl from the paddles to the stop arms. It's better than the Cerveny ones that were on the horn (it was a converted string action model that was really stiff).

It's a horn you can push. It does quintet with ease, but with a little more air and a slightly bigger mouthpiece it can hang with the big boys. I won Tanglewood on the horn that I have (and a PT10) and wound up subbing for Mr. Schmitz with the Boston Pops while I was at Tanglewood. 14,000 people, John Williams conducting, Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Overture to Candide, West Side Story, Cowboy Overture, Sing sing sing, and We Are The World and the Battle Hymn of the Republic with the huge chorus. It was my only CC tuba from about 1983 until 1995 when I bought my Yorkbrunner.

I recall Mr. Bernstein at the first rehearsal of Copeland Symphony #3: "Uhh, tuba, can you get a larger machine?" After the rehearsal he said the horn I had would do just fine.

They have a great low register and an easy to play high register considering the bore. But most important - they have a great sound.

Get one. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Roger

[TubaTodd]

First, I sold the 2165 to payoff some bills. So that ship has sailed. What I was trying to find out is if my wife sells her Muramatsu flute (she has 2) and I buy a new piggy what are my chances of getting a good horn? If they seem to be consistently decent then I would be willing to take a chance.

[bort]

You may want to call Matt Walters too. Last time I asked about Cerveny tubas there, they don't stock them and special order everything. So if you show up there, you won't find anything to play, but I'm sure that Matt would know everything about what's come and gone through there.

[toobagrowl]

Todd -

Thought you might like this old thread on the newer Cerveny Piggies:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25460" target="_blank

If anything, they have improved, it seems.

Most responses seem to be favorable to the newer ones.

[TubaTodd]

Tooba, thank you for posting that link. Those reviews sound great. When I finally get my money together I think I will take the leap of faith and purchase a new one....but I'm still looking for used ones.