Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: York Master BBb


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Posted by Rick Denney on December 04, 2001 at 17:56:58:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: York Master BBb posted by Pete on December 04, 2001 at 17:23:21:

If it was made in the late 30's, then it is a Grand Rapids York and not a York Master. But the differences are not large. I have a catalog that goes back even before that to the J. W. York days, and the BBb bass in that catalog looks very similar to mine, except for the routing of the fourth valve tubing and the interchangeable bell.

Jim Self has a picture of a late 30's 4/4 CC York on his web page, pictured above. It is similar to mine, but not identical.

At one time, I wondered what had been passed to Boehm and Meinl when they started making instruments for Carl Fischer. Joe S pretty well ended those speculations when he said that the parts for a Grand Rapids York are not at all interchangeable with a B&M York Master (which he is converting as we speak to a CC). But clearly they were trying to get the look, and having done so, marketed that same look under other brand names including their own.

Here's a question for the B&M history buffs (of which I'm probably the only one, heh, heh): Did the pre-York-Master B&M tubas have the same look? I think they were marketed as a model 5520, or something like that, but that may have been after the York Masters were in production. When did B&M start making front-action piston tubas?

Rick "who asked Herr Nirschl but apparently ran up against the unknown" Denney



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