BBb Mercedes

[Tom Mason]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-BBb-Tu ... 231f6e99f7" target="_blank

[Tom Coffey]

The hood ornament seems to be missing.

[Donn]

That was not what I was expecting. I guess this is not the Bach Mercedes.

[Tom Mason]

I have nothing to confirm the Bach connection, but I have never heard of Mercedes being used outside of Bach.

[daveinem]

A friend of mine has a "Bach" tuba that is a rotary valve BBb. I wonder if this is the same- possibly made by VMI?

[Tom Mason]

There is no mention of Bach on the instrument, even though I believe that Bach indeed marketed this horn. The German Democratic Republic is mentioned.

Many other Mercedes instruments I have seen mention Bach in the label along with Mercedes. With no mention of Bach on this instrument, I have left the mention of Bach out of the description, even though my beliefs are different.

[Dan Schultz]

This horn is obviously a B & S/VMI stencil and to me it doesn't matter much what name is on it or who did the marketing. I've never met a B & S/VMI 'stencil' that was bad.

[toobagrowl]

What TubaTinker said.........this tuba is clearly a B&S/VMI-made stencil. Too bad the thumb ring is ripped off. The mouthpipe has a pretty big dent (near the valve cluster) that probably affects playability. The skinny rotor paddles and 'S' linkage make me think this horn was made in the 80's, typical of B&S rotor tubas of that time. I could be wrong though.

The old piston-valved Bach 'Mercedes' BBb tubas were made by Olds. Bloke has talked about that before.

[Donn]

The old piston-valved Bach 'Mercedes' BBb tubas were made by Olds. Bloke has talked about that before.

They're the Olds O-99 etc., but the way I remember it, made by Bach from Olds tooling. In the '80s, and if this is also '80s vintage, that to me confirms that the name is only a coincidence.

[toobagrowl]

They're the Olds O-99 etc., but the way I remember it, made by Bach from Olds tooling. In the '80s, and if this is also '80s vintage, that to me confirms that the name is only a coincidence.

Well yeah, that's what I meant.... In my first year of college, I played a 'Musica' rotary BBb, along with a few other tubas. I usually just say it was a Cerveny-made stencil, even though it said "Made in Austria" on the bell. But the parts were definitely 'Cerveny' (Cerveny 681 parts), even though it was assembled in Austria instead of Kraslice.
It's sorta like how the 'Nirschl' 4/4+ tubas have been assembled/made in different factories, but using pretty much the same parts/tooling.

Probably a first run or protype for the stencil line for Bach.

Could be

[SousaSaver]

B&S / VMI stencil ALL the way. Just finished one for a local school. It's a good Tuba.

This is a B&S PT1:


This is the Mercedes on eBay:


Do they look alike?

[Tom Mason]

bumpity bump bump!