Posted by Ross on December 23, 2002 at 17:03:55:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Ho Ho Holton II (or III?) posted by DS on December 23, 2002 at 16:17:09:
I would have loved to have bought your Holton, but the bidding got too rich very quickly for me to even consider it! I might have gone to 3K, maybe, but I wasn't considering putting any more money into it. Of course, I would have had my local instrument repair guy check it out. As I said, I would dearly love to have your Holton. I owned a 60s vintage Holton recording bass for about 5 years, selling it about 15 years ago, because it (all 80 lbs worth) was too much to lug around in its cases and I needed the money at the time. I didn't get as much out of it as I would liked to have though. It was probably the same type horn as yours, but with 3 valves and the forward facing detachable bell. I loved the big sound I got out of it, even though it took alot of air. The people in a couple of the groups I played in were disappointed when I sold it. The only thing that has kept me from kicking myself harder is that the horn was a monster to transport and handle properly and I'm no small guy! So you can see, I'm rather ambivalent about whether I really want to own a horn like that one again. You may get all of that metal finally thawed out by the end of each of your rehearsals in your climate! Have fun!
Incidentally, I bought a Reynolds recording bass a few years ago trying to recapture some of the magic of my old Holton, but it didn't happen. The Reynolds sits while I experiment around with mouthpieces to try to get a bigger and better sound out of my Olds upright tuba.