Here are some more pics. The rotor casings are bronze. There is a missing strap ring on the back. There is lacquer (perhaps aftermarket?) that is about 50% remaining, but the underlying brass is in very good shape. No red rot. This tuba belonged to a former Army bandsman and was babied by him.
Let me speak a bit about the intonation. With three uncommon alternate fingerings (bottom line G, middle line D and top space G all played 1+3), this is one of the most in-tune tubas I have owned, no bull. This spring and summer I worked on finding a CC that was right for me - I went through a Cerveny Piggy, 186 clone, Rudy 3/4, Mirafone 184, and this fella. Out of all those, only the 186 clone had better intonation than the Alex (with the alternate fingerings). I sat down and made a tendency chart for each one. Without the alternate fingerings, the G's are lippable (maybe 10-15c flat) but D is horrendous (about 35 cents flat). In technical passages and in the middle of runs, G works well open, but 1+3 is good when you're sitting on a donut. D basically always needs to be played 1+3. So, there's your Alex caveat. You need to employ some other common sense alternates besides the aforementioned ones - 12 for E and 23 for Eb in the staff, stuff like that.
Low register: Low F works well with 124 push 1, low E is spot-on with 234, low Eb works well with 134 pull 1. I do not really miss the fifth valve on this one. Great pedal tones, and C# two lines below the staff centers nicely with 24. False tones work nicely - near-pedal D with 12 and Db with 23.
