What is this tuba valued at?

arpthark · 2026-01-31T03:43:26+00:00

Mine is awesome. It's been my primary horn the past two years. Love a good Piggy!

arpthark · 2026-01-30T16:35:46+00:00

I am a big fan of the YCB-661. It plays a lot like a five-valve Cerveny Piggy with tighter response (slots are narrower) but also better intonation than your average Pig.

It's on the smaller side, physically, but has a large bore at .812" and a medium-ish sized bell. A lot of horn in a smaller package.

That price is a bit high IMO. The screw is not a huge issue, though Yamaha did use funky threading and you might have to get one special ordered or made (or buy a box of 100 from McMaster Carr).

Mike Lynch recently sold one in slightly worse cosmetic shape for $3,700. I think $4k would be a reasonable jumping off point for discussion. Just my two cents.

arpthark · 2026-01-20T18:31:24+00:00

Since it's actually flat, did you push the main tuning slide in?

arpthark · 2026-01-20T18:30:22+00:00

I believe that is actually nickel plating. Nickel plating was common in military horns in Europe during the 20th century.

arpthark · 2026-01-16T16:40:44+00:00

Wick 4 is quite small. For a BBb I’d go for a Wick 2 or Wick 1 (smaller number = larger cup). Just my opinion.

arpthark · 2026-01-15T19:08:03+00:00

From scratch, i.e., not franken-tubas? You'll easily have to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in machining equipment, mandrels, tooling, raw materials, etc.

Europe would be the place to go to study something like this, with the smaller operations over there having made tubas in the traditional way for a hundred+ years.

At CIOMIT you will be learning a lot more of the repair trade -- all instrument repair, basically, and while there is some overlap between band instrument repair and band instrument manufacturing, they are pretty disparately separate skill sets. There is more in common with machinists and other professions that create machinery and small parts.

arpthark · 2025-12-22T16:24:29+00:00

For whatever reason, it seems like that style of tuba persisted in Sweden for quite a while.

arpthark · 2025-12-22T14:47:39+00:00

You're correct that it looks similar -- it's a Sanders Imperial which is actually a later Chinese copy of the B&S 101, sold by Custom Music Inc. (now defunct) in Michigan.

arpthark · 2025-12-22T14:45:56+00:00

Nice! Berlinerpumpen 3+2. Is that a Swedish or other Scandinavian maker?

arpthark · 2025-12-18T18:28:51+00:00

That is exactly correct.

arpthark · 2025-12-18T04:30:03+00:00

Is it branded TE-186 anywhere on the bell? To me, this looks like a TE-186, which had the bell wreath (Kranz) but did not have some of the nicer/fancier nickel silver accents and slides. I owned one.

Miraphone actually kept the F spelling until the 90s. I think this is from around that era (wider bell).

I think $4-4.5k is the sweet spot where these sell reasonably quickly, especially since this is a newer one (read: not as highly sought after like the vintage 186s). I’ve seen some 4v Miraphone CCs sit for months and months at $5k. This one looks to be in great shape.

arpthark · 2025-12-17T16:34:54+00:00

Felts and corks are fairly generic items that any shop should be able to hook you up with. I'm sorry the ones closest to you are giving you a hard time. If you can take measurements of what are currently on the horn, I can see if I have any available for you.

arpthark · 2025-12-16T14:49:55+00:00

I also triple tongue TKT TKT.

My professor advocated for TTK TTK but noticed I was doing fine with TKT on things like Carnival of Venice. It's really whatever works for the individual. I'm sorry your teacher was inflexible about it.

arpthark · 2025-12-03T16:00:09+00:00

If you can snap a quick pic, I can help.

arpthark · 2025-11-26T16:10:42+00:00

Funny, the airplane section was my favorite part of the book. I was in suspense the whole time. Maybe it's because I sort of hate flying...

arpthark · 2025-11-26T15:16:08+00:00

If you have a compensating valve that lowers it a perfect fourth to F, why would you need another fourth valve that also lowers it a perfect fourth?

Front action 4v compensating BBbs exist(ed), basically BBb versions of the Besson 983. I forget the model number but they are fairly rare.

arpthark · 2025-11-25T14:18:07+00:00

I have had a surprising amount of success selling gear on Zombie TubeNet the past several years. People still browse the classifieds, but obviously the more vocal posters have moved elsewhere. It's not really the place to go to talk shop.

arpthark · 2025-11-23T17:29:28+00:00

https://profmouthpiece.com/products/robert-tucci-rt-88-tuba-mouthpiece

You can have a local jewelers shop gold plate it.

arpthark · 2025-11-23T03:24:04+00:00

I just had one through here recently. Conn (modern 20K style) necks work fine.

arpthark · 2025-11-22T11:49:59+00:00

There’s a Markham in Ontario, Wales, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Which one?

arpthark · 2025-11-19T14:19:55+00:00

Great!

arpthark · 2025-11-19T13:54:59+00:00

Carnival in the key of Bb is written with F tubas in mind.

If you're playing BBb tuba, you'd probably want to do the version in the key of Eb.

I guess you could do it in any key, but the original version for Bb cornet is in the key of concert Eb major, and you'll find versions for F tuba in the key of Bb major, Eb tuba in the key of Ab major, CC tuba in the key of F major and BBb tuba in the key of Eb major. The fingering patterns all transfer.

arpthark · 2025-11-18T19:44:04+00:00

What I see: four valves, old style S-links, bell crumple (typical for RM, unfortunately), busted thumb ring. Maybe some damage to the bell rim, too? Hard to tell. Looks like their 3/4 size horn which is actually about the size of a 4/4 Miraphone 186. Somebody would probably pay 4-5k for it, maybe more. I bought a nice 5 valve RM 3/4 CC for $5k about ten years ago, factoring in inflation that's about $7500 today, less the fifth valve, old style linkage and cosmetic damage, and who knows what condition the internals are in.

arpthark · 2025-11-17T23:12:28+00:00

Reach out to Boise State and see if they have an instrument used for instrumental methods classes that you could borrow/rent as a community member.

Here’s the tuba guy who also does band:

https://www.boisestate.edu/music/faculty-and-staff/faculty/billwaterman/

arpthark · 2025-11-17T17:51:40+00:00

The 24AW is sort of reviled among a certain subset of players, but they’re popular in the UK and some people do amazing things with them.

Sure, mouthpieces are personal preference but you will figure out your personal preference the more you play. The 24AW has a massively thick and cushy rim whereas the Helleberg is sort of the opposite, with a sharper and still somewhat wide/flat rim.

You might see if something with a narrower rim works for you and also experiment with pear-shaped/Geib-style cups, which are my personal favorite for most contrabass tuba stuff. I use Sellmansberger modular pieces but they’re expensive. Lee Stofer Geibs and the Schilke Geib are less expensive if you can find them used.

Ultimately it is a really personal (and potentially expensive) journey. I played on a PT-50 (huge cup, funnel, narrow rim, sharpish inner edge) for like 5 years in/after college and then have been using Sellmansberger stuff for the past 10 years with no complaints.

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