The Cerveny CC "Piggy" is a great tuba. I tooted on one once or twice and liked it a lot.
I remember seeing and clearly hearing Gary Ofenloch on a Cerveny Piggy with the Boston Pops on PBS back in the late 90's. What a sound!!
Like some posters have said: it plays and sounds much bigger than it looks.
A good "Piggy" can project sound like a 5/4 tuba in the right hands
I've owned a Piggy for about 25 years now and it was my only horn for most of that time. I bought it from Vince at Tuba Exchange and fell in love with it as soon as I played it. Of course the great price helped too. Mine was made in the 1970s, which I understand was a time of variable standards for Cerveny. I must have gotten a good sample. E and F right below the staff are a little high, but otherwise it mainly only has the common tuning quirks like having to play D in the staff with 1+3, E with 1+2, etc. Pushing first valve slide all the way in also works on the D if you want to play it with just 1.
Some have grumbled about reaching over it with the left hand, but I find running your arm under the top bow works very well. I even played around with running my arm through the 4th valve slide so I could adjust it with my forearm. Overall I really like the ergonomics. It is a very easy horn to hold. With a strap it is not even too bad to play with standing. Yes, the metal is soft. I can't set it on its bell or it will fall right over.
Lately, I've spent most of my time on a recently acquired Cerveny Kaiser because I wanted a 5th valve and something with a bigger sound. I play in a British style brass band where I need to play very often in the low register. But I kinda miss the little Piggy. It is a fun horn to play, and as others have mentioned, it puts out a big sound for such a small looking instrument.
mike
Michael Bell
Austin, Texas
Cerveny 601 Kaiser(1962), Cerveny Piggy(1970s), Reynolds sousaphone (1959)
Austin Civic Wind Ensemble
Austin Brass Band
St. Edward's Orchestra
I had a piggy in college and found it to be a very versatile horn. I loved playing it! I could make it work on solo and quintet literature, and also with orchestra. For someone who can only afford one horn, there are a lot worse choices out there than a piggy!
cktuba wrote:Didn't Craig Knox record the first Center City BQ album on a Piggy?
I think you are correct, really changes the way you listen to that album. He sounds excellent on that recording.
From Knox's website: I previously played a Cerveny "Piggy" CC tuba, and a B&S PT-4 CC tuba in the CCBQ. The Cerveny was used for the following albums: Center City Brass Quintet, Street Song, and On The Town.
I used to borrow an "Octave+" Pig in college, and I really thought it was almost too easy to play! Wonderful instrument, and just had to play your middle Cs 2&3 and everything else was okay.
I owned my own for a while and loved it. The high range and pitch was absurdly good! The instrument had sharp main and 4th valve slides, but after making a custom main slide crook and extending the 4th valve slide... HOLY $#!+!!! It was terrific.
In the end, it was a stone on the path for me and I sold it, but not because there was anything wrong with it... phenomenal compact instrument. Huge bore, sound bigger than it has any right to, it's a great "do it all" tuba. My quintet adored it.
J.c.S.
Instructor of Tuba & Euphonium, Cleveland State University
Principal Tuba, Firelands Symphony Orchestra
President, Variations in Brass http://www.jcsherman.net
I just got my Piggy back from the repair shop. Dennis Houghton and Vurl Bland took out some dents and tweaked the valves. The horn looks and plays great!
Has anyone here purchased a NEW piggy in the last couple years? Do you know someone who has? Was it worth the roll of the dice? I'm considering the gamble, but I'm a bit weary.
Seriously Todd....
You recently sold your M-W 6/4 "Deck" CC -- you have more than enough to buy a brand new Cerveny "Piggy" 5-valve CC and still come out with over $2,000 left. And If you get the 4-valve model, you will have over $3,500 left. People tend to hold on to their old ones. You should just call/email Matt @ Dillon's and get his take on the new ones.
From a quality standpoint, I don't think you'd have any trouble with a new Cerveny. My Cerveny F is maybe 5 years old, and it's made very well. Other newer Cerveny tubas I've seen and tried have all been similarly nice horns (except for one big F tuba I tried that had funky intonation). Something like the Piggy should be Cerveny's meat and potatoes though.
My guess (total guess) is that your uncertainty would be in holding its value if you want to sell it a few years down the road. If you buy a new Piggy for $5,000, I'm not sure how well the value would hold up compared to other new tubas. There's not a huge market for Piggies to begin with, and the people looking to buy may care (and want to pay) only for "a Piggy" instead of "a new Piggy."
If you don't plan to sell it later (or at least not soon), and you can afford a new one, then hell, go for it! You only go around once...
The Cerveny piggies are marvelous horns. At one time I owned two of them. My current one is from about 1970 and is the Walter Sear model. The leadpipe has been replaced with a factory original one and the valve mechanism has been replaced with one from a Rudolf Meinl from the paddles to the stop arms. It's better than the Cerveny ones that were on the horn (it was a converted string action model that was really stiff).
It's a horn you can push. It does quintet with ease, but with a little more air and a slightly bigger mouthpiece it can hang with the big boys. I won Tanglewood on the horn that I have (and a PT10) and wound up subbing for Mr. Schmitz with the Boston Pops while I was at Tanglewood. 14,000 people, John Williams conducting, Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Overture to Candide, West Side Story, Cowboy Overture, Sing sing sing, and We Are The World and the Battle Hymn of the Republic with the huge chorus. It was my only CC tuba from about 1983 until 1995 when I bought my Yorkbrunner.
I recall Mr. Bernstein at the first rehearsal of Copeland Symphony #3: "Uhh, tuba, can you get a larger machine?" After the rehearsal he said the horn I had would do just fine.
They have a great low register and an easy to play high register considering the bore. But most important - they have a great sound.
Get one. I doubt you will be disappointed.
Roger
"The music business is a cruel and shallow trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson
First, I sold the 2165 to payoff some bills. So that ship has sailed. What I was trying to find out is if my wife sells her Muramatsu flute (she has 2) and I buy a new piggy what are my chances of getting a good horn? If they seem to be consistently decent then I would be willing to take a chance.
You may want to call Matt Walters too. Last time I asked about Cerveny tubas there, they don't stock them and special order everything. So if you show up there, you won't find anything to play, but I'm sure that Matt would know everything about what's come and gone through there.
Tooba, thank you for posting that link. Those reviews sound great. When I finally get my money together I think I will take the leap of faith and purchase a new one....but I'm still looking for used ones.
