The Horn that Got Away: biggest trade/sale regret?

[arpthark]

Feel free to share stories or reminisce about the tuba you shouldn't have gotten rid of, OR bemoan the tuba you shouldn't have bought. Or gloat about the horn you've kept forever because it's great (bloke's Symphonie?).

I had a fantastic PT-6 that belonged to Jon Voth. He bought it new in 1996 or so and it was in pristine condition. I believe he won his gig on it. I wasn't practicing enough and stupidly blamed the tuba and sold it.

Conversely, I have the opportunity to purchase a really fine (four valves, decent intonation) Alex 163 CC right now and am afraid I'll be kicking myself for not buying it.

What about you?

[HuffPuffTuba]

I bought a Miraphone 191 Bb tuba on consignment at the Tuba Exchange. It was sold by a guy who had successfully auditioned on it into one of the military bands (I believe the Marine Band).

I've never regretted that choice and have always had a wonderful time playing it.

[TubaSailor]

I went up to Steve Ferguson's place (Horn Guys) several years ago, and he was kind enough to let me play everything in the shop. The horn that really stood out, (intonation and sound quality) was Steve's personal HB2P. Unfortunately it was about $1500 more than I wanted to spend, and I didn't feel comfortable haggling after he'd let me play $100,000+ worth of his stock. The closest I've been able to come to the sound and quality of that HB2 since then is the Rudy 4345(R) that I now have. No regrets on the Rudy, but the HB2 would have put me on track a couple of years earlier.

[Michael Bush]

I bought this tuba from Tabor of this board and sold it to a friend of a TubeNetter. Which is to say it disappeared into the ether. In spite of its huge size and its being a BBb, I would buy it back in a heartbeat. At that time I was trying to own one tuba at a time.

Conn.JPG

EDIT: Funny thing, my wife purely hated that tuba, because we had gas in the house, and it threw off a ton of tarnish onto my clothes and really whatever it touched. Our current house is all electric.

[roweenie]

My old standby and friend, a magnificent York 712 in BB flat.

I bought it while in college (almost 35 years ago!), answering an ad in the International Musician newspaper (I was surprised to be the first to reply). For many years afterward, I used to get routine calls from a guy (now deceased) who just had to have it.....

As to horns that "got away", I don't recall any....

[roweenie]

I bought this tuba from Tabor of this board and sold it to a friend of a TubeNetter. Which is to say it disappeared into the ether. In spite of its huge size and its being a BBb, I would buy it back in a heartbeat. At that time I was trying to own one tuba at a time.

Conn.JPG

Is that the one with the freakishly large (.800+) bore?

[Michael Bush]

I bought this tuba from Tabor of this board and sold it to a friend of a TubeNetter. Which is to say it disappeared into the ether. In spite of its huge size and its being a BBb, I would buy it back in a heartbeat. At that time I was trying to own one tuba at a time.

Conn.JPG

Is that the one with the freakishly large (.800+) bore?

No. .750, more or less. Huge bell, though. If I remember correctly it was at least 22".

[roweenie]

Ah. I recall the usual size bore was .773, but it looked a lot like one I once knew of that had a bore over .800....

[Michael Bush]

Ah. I recall the usual size bore was .773,

That's probably the number.

[roweenie]

There was one for sale quite a long time ago with an ~.830" bore located in England.

It's quite likely it's the same horn, as, if I remember correctly, the one I was referring to made its way across the big pond......

[Dan Schultz]

Two weeks ago I sold two Marzan 'slant-rotor' tubas. One of them is the one I swore I would keep forever. Oh well... there are still some more out there somewhere!

[harrell]

I had a Rudolph Meinl 6-valve F tuba and Kalison 4/4 CC in college. When I got out and started teaching, I didn't do a lot of playing at the time and the CC fit what playing I did. Quite honestly, I felt more comfortable on the CC because I wasn't sure how to deal with the intonation on the F. I went to the Midwest clinic about 2004 and played a bunch of horns. I found the PT-20P and it was a case of the horn picking me, not me picking the horn. I knew this was going to be my new tuba. It fit me way better than the Kalison. So I sold the Rudy and the Kalison and got the PT-20P. I love the horn and it is my only horn to this day. It serves all my needs well. BUT man do I miss having that Rudy F. I didn't appreciate what I had when I had it and, hindsight being what it is, I could have gotten way more out of that horn than I did. Intonation was squirrelly on it but it sounded great. I hope to be able to purchase another F in the not so distant future to use in church settings and small groups.

[GC]

I wish I'd kept the MW 25 I bought in college. It was at times a frustrating horn, but it's better than any horn I've had since.

Then again, I was considering a Holton 345 about the time I bought the 25. If I only knew then what I know now . . .

[bort]

No regrets, but it would be fun to spend an afternoon with some of my old tubas. I bet I would initially regret selling them, and then soon remember why I sold them in the first place.

[Peach]

There was one for sale quite a long time ago with an ~.830" bore located in England.

Yep. I bought that Conn. I played it for a while but sold it to a chap in Oxford. It was quite tricky to steer. Could/should have persevered with it as certain aspects were great.

[Tabor]

The Conn with the .8+ bore is a different O.G.

No regrets on any trades/sales because they led to my current tubas.

The closest to a regret might be a 1905 York 33 that was a really nice player, but not nicer than my York/King.

[Michael Bush]

I went up to Steve Ferguson's place (Horn Guys) several years ago, and he was kind enough to let me play everything in the shop. The horn that really stood out, (intonation and sound quality) was Steve's personal HB2P. Unfortunately it was about $1500 more than I wanted to spend, and I didn't feel comfortable haggling after he'd let me play $100,000+ worth of his stock. The closest I've been able to come to the sound and quality of that HB2 since then is the Rudy 4345(R) that I now have. No regrets on the Rudy, but the HB2 would have put me on track a couple of years earlier.

I wonder if this is that tuba. Sounds like it.

[gregsundt]

4/4 Rudy, ca. late 70s.
B&S Symphonie F.
1965 Epiphone Century, cherry-stained maple, built in Kalamazoo.
1963 Fender Bandmaster piggyback, tan w/brown face.
1984 Music Man Stingray bass.

I can't go on....

[Donn]

Well, tactically, I sure should have hung on to the beat up Olds O99 and Reynolds sousaphone I had back in the '80s. Not that I haven't had anything their equal since - on the contrary, the 40K I came out of that with is truly the best - but at the time, as a practical matter, that was dumb.

[KyleRichter]

I went up to Steve Ferguson's place (Horn Guys) several years ago, and he was kind enough to let me play everything in the shop. The horn that really stood out, (intonation and sound quality) was Steve's personal HB2P. Unfortunately it was about $1500 more than I wanted to spend, and I didn't feel comfortable haggling after he'd let me play $100,000+ worth of his stock. The closest I've been able to come to the sound and quality of that HB2 since then is the Rudy 4345(R) that I now have. No regrets on the Rudy, but the HB2 would have put me on track a couple of years earlier.

I wonder if this is that tuba. Sounds like it.

It is that tuba. I was going to comment about trying out that same tuba sometime last year when Steve had it on display. Playing it for ten minutes had me completely convinced that I needed to own that tuba, but Steve walked out and told me Blake had already claimed it. It's an awesome tuba, and I would likely be trying to buy it if I hadn't just bought an HB-2P of my own last month.