You can still buy a "Hirsbrunner" tuba. Several years back Hirsbrunner sold their tuba tooling to Adams, who continues to build tubas of the Hirsbrunner design. There have even been reports of considerable improvements to the tubas since Adams has been manufacturing them.ATschetter wrote:The resurrection was more aimed at Hirsbrunner. I just like Wilson's designs enough that I wouldn't mind a similar affordable option.
And...Hirsbrunner designs are being copied. There is an HB-21 copy by Packer that is apparently pretty decent. Now we're going to have a Wessex "Yorkbrunner," which may not be a 100% direct copy (have been told "Nirschl with different leadpipe"), but isn't far off the mark either. EDIT: and there has for quite a few years now been a Hirsbrunner BBb rotary design that has been copied.
Wilson is still very much around, as already mentioned. If you want a less expensive Wilson you'll probably be waiting a long time - see bloke's post about things popular to the majority.