Re: BB York on Ebay


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Posted by Art on January 11, 2001 at 23:59:48:

In Reply to: BB York on Ebay posted by Duke on January 11, 2001 at 15:25:51:

I have a beat-up version of the same horn. It used to reside under my father's basement stairs, and I would dust it off whenever I went back home for family visits. I liked it, but there were some things I wanted to change. The mouthpiece receiver was a bit smaller than standard. There was no way to hold it comfortably for extended periods; it just didn't balance well in my lap. First-space Ab was so flat on that horn that I had to finger it 123. That worked well when I remembered to use it. The valves had rather long strokes, but in my opinion the bore was too small for a BBb instrument and there were some really tight bends in the tubing of the 3rd & 4th valves, with hidden water keys. It was consequently rather stuffy in the many-valve low register. Played softly in the middle register it had a beautiful sound. And it was so short that I could lay it across my lap in the middle of a crowded tuba section without clanking against anyone.
Eventually I put a front-action four-valve cluster onto it and set it up to be comfortable for me, and I will never part with it. The metal is really a joy to work with. I don't think this horn would be a good candidate for CC conversion because it has very little cylindrical tubing to remove.


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