Contrabass Digest

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2001-12-21

 
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 16:59:29 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] chuckle du jour
 

For anyone interested, I've added a few more lines to the "Warning signs you might be a contrabass maniac" page.  Also, there's now a link to the old jazz band offenses & fines page at the bottom (or go straight to http://www.contrabass.com/pages/fines.html).  Please feel free to contribute more ;-)

Enjoy,

Grant

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grant Green
Sarrusophones, contrabass reeds, &
other brobdignagian acoustic exotica             http://www.contrabass.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 11:13:51 -0800
From: Grant Green
Subject: [CB] Fwd: To CB Digest: MacGillvray Heckelphone, Heckel visit, tubax
 

The latest from Peter (I don't know why it didn't go through directly to the list).

Enjoy!

Grant

>From: "Peter Hurd"
>Subject: To CB Digest: MacGillvray Heceklphone, Heckel visit, tubax
>Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 00:05:18 -0800
>
>
>Dear Grant,
>        About the Tubax...  I priced one of these a few months ago.
>I believe that even including duty the price directly from the maker
>is about $11,500.... $17,500 seems quite high for this...
>        I just got back from a week in Germany to purchase the
>MacGillvray Heckelphone #50 from 1911.
>This instrument really sings !!! Awesome resonance. And absolutely
>in tune as well. Even the left index B is magnificent- this is
>usually one of the "muffled" notes on Heckelphone because of the
>lack of a A resonance mechanism. It is the earliest model 36i
>(precursor to the Conservatory System) I know of. Some major
>re-engineering has done: thumplate added, second octave key added
>which simply activates the first octave key, the right hand little
>finger C, C#, Eb cluster has been change to Conservatory pattern
>(lovely work), and the left hand little finger cluster (Eb, B, long
>F) has been changed to the Conservatory pattern. Since so much work
>has already been accomplished on this instrument,  I will ask Tom
>Hiniker to complete the conversion to basic Conservatory system.
>Probably will replate with gold as well...
>       I visited three major collections. Some highlights:
>Kielworth Bass Sax, pre-war; left handed alto sax,
>Kholer (not Kholert) baritone sax with "symbol" inscribed on bell,
>conical bore silver (modern) flute, the straight octavin, a dozen or
>so 13 key oboes (Sellner system- one with foldable left thumb low B
>key!), 6 Heckelphones (2 in one collection, 3 in one collection, and
>one in museum), Buffet Contrabass Sarrusaphone in C, sopranino
>Sarrusaphone, baritone Rothophone (lovely tone).
>My host has a Hungarian made taragato for sale (maker's name begins
>with a "Z" I believe) for $2500.
>     The visit to Heckel was an absolute gas. These folks have been
>most kind to me over the years, and it was a complete delight to
>spend time with them. Ralf Reiter
>gave me and my host a most extensive tour or the Heckel
>museum. When he saw that the MacGillvray Heckelphone was housed in
>an aluminum case, he said "oh, no, this simply will not suffice for
>this instrument". He disappeared into the workshop and emerged with
>an original black  wooden case in near pristine condition.  He
>gave the case to me on the spot and promised to fit the instrument
>to the case when I  should return for a second vist at the end on
>the week (minor adjusments with the blocking inside the case). Ralf
>said that one of their clients came to the factory to have a new
>case fitted and had left this one behind. Ralf said that he
>would truly like to find a CONN-O-SAX for the Heckel Museum, so I am
>presently sending out inquiries to collectors on behalf of the
>Heckel firm.
>A wild card in this is that fact that two Heckclarinas are in the
>museum... hmmmm.  Also a comment about the new Heckel Heckelphone
>bocals- I find these are excellent in every respect. The new Heckel
>Contra bassoon is awesome ! A mere 80,000 DM  (c $40,000), about the
>cost of an "entry" level violin. The new model is to low A with  two
>bends in the  bell section, so that the bell points upward for
>projection. I also held the piccolo Heckelphone in my hands- what a
>cool horn ! The difficulty with copying the original is that it is
>A452, and even at that, they never had the tone hole placements in
>the correct locations even after much experimentation. The plan now
>is to use the
>original bore dimensions as a guide, and to re-make the instrument
>into a modern form with A440. This may take some time...
>    I have placed an exploratory ad on Bassoon.org to sell my "new"
>Heckelphone from 1963  (the one from Edmonton) which has muting bell
>and standard bell.
>No anomalies whatsoever, "Buck Rogers" model, MINT condition !!!
>With best wishes from Heckelphone heaven,
>Peter

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From: "Peter Hurd"
Subject: [CB] Taragato
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 14:35:17 -0800

Dear Grant,
        The taragato for sale in Germany is a "STOWASSER", Budapest.  I believe this maker is reputed to be the best.
Cheers,  Peter

***End of Contrabass Digest***


 
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