Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 18:10:26 -0800
From: "Grant Green"
Subject: [CB] Brass time!
Hi,
Last night I finally met Dave Richoux, and spent about an hour
checking out the horns for sale.
[Dave, please feel free to jump in if I get anything wrong here]
Here are his thoughts/comments (as best as I remember):
- the tuba: nice sound for a big Eb tuba. In great condition for
its age, although it does need to have the valves replated. $800-1K?
- bass trumpet: essentially perfect condition [it is essentially
unplayed], although it does have the stuffiness characteristic of bass
trumpets. [A new one from WW&BW goes for $1649: I'll consider
anything over $1K]
- F contrabass trumpet: This didn't play well, using my Eb tuba
mpc. A neat experiment, but... It played a bit better using a bass
trombone mpc, and Dave's theory is that the mpc is too big for the lead
pipe diameter. It might work better if the receiver was downsized to
take a bass 'bone mpc. Otherwise, it is still of interest to a
collector. [Still don't know what to ask for this one. Maybe $500+ ?]
- Baritone/Euphonium: very beat up horn, but plays decently
(surprisingly in view of its condition). Something in the range of
$100 - and the included Protec gig bag is probably half the value
there ;-)
- Marching baritone: plays well, in very good condition. Evidence
of previous repairs to bell (but no surprise). [$700-1K?]
- Bass trombone: design a bit awkward, but probably of greater
interest to a trombone player. Has a nasty buzz on some notes:
something probably needs to be resoldered. Slide works well.
- French horn: only a single horn, but plays well for a student
horn. [$700+ ?]
Dave, again, please chime in with any additional comments or
corrections here.
I think my daughter has decided which bass clarinet she wants to
keep, so I'll try to get pictures of the other one, and the alto sax,
posted sometime this week.
Enjoy!
Grant
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Grant Green Contrabass.com
Sarrusophones & contrabass winds
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From: David Richoux
Subject: Re: [CB] Brass time!
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 19:04:16 -0800
Grant, and all:
No notes were taken as I reviewed these horns but I think Grant
got everything right. There are some unusual instruments here
(and some mundane ones.) It is hard to establish an asking price on
instruments and inflation vs. age is always an issue. Looking at
"asking prices" on EBay is a bit useless because anybody can ask
whatever they want. More established music stores (web or brick &
mortar) have seen some of these kinds of instruments come and go for
years but i still am not sure how they set prices. I buy a lot of horns
but rarely sell them, so I made my estimates on what I experienced in
the past and tried to adjust for inflation.
The F Contrabass Trumpet is the strangest horn on the list -
even though it was a prototype or experiment it is very hard to
play as it is right now. For collectors of the unusual only. Bass
Trumpet - very nice for what it is, but picking a "best" mouthpiece
MIGHT help a lot. (I still don't know why this class of horn was
produced - the Euphonium plays the same range and is much nicer tone -
maybe they wanted something that "looked" like a trumpet?) Marching
Baritone has a complicated valve guide design - you have to be very
careful to align the nylon parts into place - but after that it is a
very sweet horn. I would have bought it if I didn't already have a
similar horn. The Eb Tuba - I have a similar horn I bought for about
$400 back in 1986 but the bell on mine was badly dented. Valves on
Grant's are OK but re-plating would help a lot. A Very Good old Eb -
somebody will be very happy with it.
French Horn - was a guess - I don't know that much about them
these days, but it played well and was in very good condition.
All of the horns (except the tuba) have nice cases or gig bags.
Nicest of all was the Bb Ophicleide, but as Grant said earlier -
it is not for sale...
Dang!
Dave Richoux
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From: Paul Berry
Subject: [CB] My 15 mins of sarrusophone
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 22:33:23 -0800
Every one gets 15 minutes of... deep vibrations??
After 54 years of waiting, last November 26 I finally got my 15
minutes of close encounter with a contrabass sarrusophone. A few
pictures at
***End of Contrabass Digest***