Bohland & Fuchs BBBb tuba 4RV in the Amati collection

[imperialbari]

Blatantly stolen from the FaceBook wall of Mike Johnson of the UK:

[tbonesullivan]

Is it actually playable? Looks like you'd need to be around 7 feet tall to be able to work the valves.

[groovlow]

Bet there are alot of alternat fingerings in the "cash register"
middle pic of three, looks like Johnny Cash beat Taj to the tuba ensemble accompaniment

[groovlow]

Bet there are alot of alternate fingerings in the "cash register"
Middle pic of three, looks like Johnny Cash beat Taj to the tuba ensemble accompaniment.

[dmmorris]

I've seen this pic before, but finally noticed the mouthpiece-o-saurus on the chair....WTF.

Neat!!

Another subcontrabass......

That makes six total?

[Steve Marcus]

Efforts to play this horn on a couple of YouTubes are a disaster.

Can this behemoth be played in tune by a two competent players: one using a mouthpiece receiver adaptor, and one pressing the correct valves?

[imperialbari]

I wouldn’t know about the playability, as I never was there to try it out.

The leadpipe looks narrow compared to the bell width, which actually may be a benefit with such huge instrument.

But then the design apparently never considered an actual performance situation. Even my very long arms would fall short on this instrument. If performances had been the goal, the leadpipe position could have been optimized.

If I were to play this tuba, I would try to find a mechanical or electronical transmission from my fingers to the valve paddles. Pairing two players would be a challenge even for good friends.

Transmissions from hand to strings have been seen with oversize string basses. Transmission from foot pedals to tuba valves have been seen with the old American photo of the tuba and guitar doubler.

Klaus

[Mike-Johnson-Custom]

I could only get a Bb out of it. tried to get the open F but, alas, failed! I didn't even check if it's valves work!
As for the giant mouthpiece. It's hollow! spun from nickel silver sheet.

[Mike-Johnson-Custom]

This looks a lot like the Cerveny FFF that's in the Amati collection....

That looks like the same instrument. So I wonder where people thinking it's in F came from?

Mike

[Mike-Johnson-Custom]

And my hands aren't small. About a foot away!

[imperialbari]

The photos don’t come up on my screen. Thought the problem was that their addresses don’t have suffixes like .jpg or .png, so I copied the first address and tried to load it in my browser. Same result, which hints that there also is a matter of denied access to some sort of private account.

And yes, I would like to se those photos.

Klaus

[bisontuba]

The photos don’t come up on my screen. Thought the problem was that their addresses don’t have suffixes like .jpg or .png, so I copied the first address and tried to load it in my browser. Same result, which hints that there also is a matter of denied access to some sort of private account.

And yes, I would like to se those photos.

Klaus

Same here...nothing....

[Mike-Johnson-Custom]

Hmm.
They're on my google+ I'll see what I can do!

[Mike-Johnson-Custom]

Try now!

[bisontuba]

Works now!

[imperialbari]

Thanks!