Geneva Brass: one of the Frankfurt surprises

[hubert]

One of the surprises of the Frankfurt Music Fair, at least for me, was the British company Geneva Brass. They offer an almost full range of (brassband)instruments, made at their consignment by Cerveny.
I liked the Eeb (Fletcher model): it is more open than all other varieties of this instrument on the market. Their euphonium is wonderfull as well. Price/quality ratio is excellent: good European craftsmanship for a moderate price. Compliments to Geneva Brass.
Hubert

[bort]

Very interesting! Kind of a confusing name though -- a British company with a Swiss name that sells Czech instruments?

Are these the usual Cerveny models, or others?

[elihellsten]

A 3+1 Eb is not included in Cervenys own range of tubas, that's for sure. They don't make british style euphoniums either.

[Lectron]

A 3+1 Eb is not included in Cervenys own range of tubas, that's for sure. They don't make british style euphoniums either.

Didn't I see a 3+1 Cerveny at Frankfurt last year?
Quite sure I did (?)
(might have been a non comp. thou)

[pgym]

They don't make british style euphoniums either.

They don't???

[hubert]

Cerveny itself had the mentioned EEb tuba and the euphonium in its own stand as well. Brand indication: Cerveny; "line" indication Emperor. Prices of the German import company Stoelzel were somewhat higher than that of Geneva Brass.
Hubert

[elihellsten]

Ah, my bad then. They are not listed on cervenys own website...

[Lectron]

And I'd be willing to guess they are chinese horns. Probably the same Eb and euph that Mack brass and Shiller sells

Just a guess, I have no experience with these horns

Aside from the fact that it looks very different (in a tubaplayer's eyes), I'd say you are wrong.

John Packer also 'makes' one called sterling model, based on Boosey/Sterling (Paul Riggett) design.
I do not know where it is made, but it sure looks better than the JinBao, and I assume it's asian
Price is about half of the 'real thing'

[hubert]

I do not understand, why we should be guessing about the origin, whereas staff members of Geneva Brass and Cerveny both say, that these instruments are being made by Cerveny? Cerveny/Amati have a long tradition of making other "brands" and models besides their own. They never made a secret of that.
Hubert

[Lectron]

I do not understand, why we should be guessing about the origin, whereas staff members of Geneva Brass and Cerveny both say, that these instruments are being made by Cerveny? Cerveny/Amati have a long tradition of making other "brands" and models besides their own. They never made a secret of that.
Hubert

Oh...I'm not guessing on the Geneva, I'm talking about the John Packer 'Sterling'

When I talked to them, they said china, but I have not seen any similar coming out there.
I'll try it out next time I have a chance. It looks a good step up from jinbao, and is
still half the price of a Yamaha/Besson etc.

[Wyvern]

Cerveny itself had the mentioned EEb tuba and the euphonium in its own stand as well. Brand indication: Cerveny; "line" indication Emperor. Prices of the German import company Stoelzel were somewhat higher than that of Geneva Brass.
Hubert

Here is picture of the Cerveny EEb. I believe it has larger bell than other compensated EEb - it being 500mm

[Dan Schultz]

I guess all of the attention this past weekend was turned to Frankfurt. There wasn't much at NABBA this weekend in Cincinnati. Buffet had a few euphoniums and Yamaha had a tuba or two but nothing very impressive. Willson had a very interesting euphonium with the main slide on top A La Marzan. I always enjoy seeing that feature!

[Dan Schultz]

Dan,

Maybe a dumb question but, was this a front action euph? Just trying to get a visual if it is a top action horn how you would operate the slide easily.

Here's one of the Willson/Marzan euphoniums that's a few years old but it's very much the same as what I saw as current Willson production. That's the main tuning slide on the backside at the top. This particular horns has had some custom work done to it and has a trigger on the front side. There are more images of the horn on my 'Marzan' page on the webpage listed below.