Up for sale is Chris Olka's old prototype Yamaha 822 F tuba. It's like an 822 souped up with a bunch of new things Yamaha is trying out to make these horns even better. I purchased it in 2014 and have had a great ride with it, but I'm just not using an F-tuba often enough to hold onto this. I'll let Chris' original ad sell it in his own words:
(The whole original ad can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=60025 )Ok, up for sale is a horn that's as rare as they come. It's a prototype F-tuba that Yamaha built for me using the body and some branches from my original YFB-822 tuba. The engineers at Yamaha were using this horn and others as a test bed for changes they wanted to try to the YFB-822. I can and will give specifics to anyone that's seriously interested in purchasing the tuba, but will not post them here. Suffice it to say that they succeeded in solving almost all of the perceived issues with the original YFB-822 design in this prototype. Ever play an 822 and wish it had more color in the sound, more life? This horn has it. Want a little faster articulation with less effort? Here you go. Great low range with more centered, less woofy mid and high range...BAM. Better ergonomics...done. Intonation vastly improved. It's no longer necessary to use alternate fingerings to adjust pitch. Slightly lipping or pulling a slide fixes all issues easily. Basically, this horn is the best version of an 822 that you'll ever play.
The horn is in great shape still, no big dings or dents, and just some original wear that Yamaha's replating process made more pronounced (which you can kinda see in the third picture attached). It really is the best 822 I've ever tried, and lots of other people agree. If nothing else, having the hand position be moved to be more 'standard' is huge. Comes with a Glenn Cronkhite cordura case in dark red - still in great shape with sheet music holder and fits like a glove.
Looking for $old - The horn is currently located in Boston. Hit me up with any questions, and thanks for looking.
Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/GvZZzAi3iSo34eq96
