I just got back from Ron Partch's shop, and the news isn't good. He thinks it is a Huttl, made in Canada in the 50's or 60's. He says it is a poorly-designed, student quality instrument. He doubts it would play in tune with itself. I WANT A SECOND OPINION!
Ron REALLY doesn't recommend putting any money into it. He wouldn't even work on it. He also doubts I'd be able to find a tuba mouthpiece to fit due to the small (not "European"...smaller than European) receiver.
I've *really* got to find a tuba player to take this thing for a spin.
Links don't work- says "You are not allowed to access this section".
Principal tuba, Bel Air Community Band
Old (early 1900s?) Alexander BBb proto-163
1976 Sonora (B&S 101) 4-rotor BBb
1964 Conn 20J/21J BBb (one body, both bells)
~1904 York 3P BBb Helicon
Old Alex Comp.F, in shop
I still can't access those Horn-u-copia links because I've yet to be approved, but in the meantime I went over the tuba with a fine tooth comb in bright sunlight and found something new. On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd valve casings are the numbers 124, 125 and 126. I assume these might be part numbers, but did Huttl (or others) use this system?
TubaNewba wrote:.....On the 1st, 2nd and 3rd valve casings are the numbers 124, 125 and 126. I assume these might be part numbers, but did Huttl (or others) use this system? Thanks, D
It was pretty normal for valvemakers to 'batch-build' the assemblies. They may have built a batch of 200 and just put numbers on them to keep the parts together. If they built 200 in your batch... they may have started the next batch at 201.
Those numbers really don't mean much because they could have been built by someone other that whose name is actually on the horn.
Dan Schultz
"The Village Tinker" http://www.thevillagetinker.com" target="_blank
Current 'stable'... Rudolf Meinl 5/4, Marzan (by Willson) euph, King 2341, Alphorn, and other strange stuff.
I 'm sorry, I don't know anything about links not working for you. I have been registered on horn-u-copia for years and found it to be a useful resource. Can you just go on horn-u-copia.net and just poke around on your own? I really don't know.
Donn wrote:A Huttl made in Canada? This had me looking for a "Moosehart, ON" or something, but no such place. A Canadian made tuba, eh? Get out!
Over on Horn-u-copia, someone has done a lot of research on Huttl in Canada, and he thinks the instruments were just polished and lacquered here after being shipped from Europe.
I finally was able to coordinate with a professional tuba player who agreed to take my horn for a test drive.
The good news? With better eyesight than me, he found an engraving that read Made In Czechoslovakia. So that's something. It may confirm one theory that it was a Huttl, made in Czechoslovakia and shipped to Canada for varnishing [edit; I meant "lacquering"] and polishing.
The bad news? He felt that even with a tuba mouthpiece (somehow finding a small shank version, or having the leadpipe changed), it wouldn't provide the low notes required to make it sound like a tuba. He DID think it would make a nice lamp.
