Re: Re: Re: cimbasso & boosey f


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Parisi BBb on January 18, 2003 at 09:54:58:

In Reply to: Re: Re: cimbasso & boosey f posted by Dave on January 18, 2003 at 04:30:41:

I hadn't looked there, but in my understanding of the term of "cimbasso" there actually are 2 cimbassos.

The one designated as a such one is the BBb Parisi pictured above here. This instrument is in the old Italian tradition of a 3 valve cimbasso.

The other one is the equally 3 valved Schmelz F bass trombone, which will be illustrated in the following posting.

I can have no idea of the playing qualities of these instruments, as I for obvious reasons haven't tried them out.

However I as a player and a collector have reached some rather definitive points of view on 3 valved brass instruments in the tenor and bass ranges:

They are OK for fun and upper range solo playing and melodic/walking bass lines. But in "legit" playing 3 valvers either have to have a comp system or to offer an easy way to pull valves. (A player immensely better than me like JoeS uses a 3 valve Eb York cimbasso for dixie/trad jazz. But when he plays "legit", he rather brings his B&S 6 valver in F).

Aside from being an avid endorser of the 3+1 comp systems as found in the YEP 641 euph and the Besson 981 Eb tuba, but not in BBb tubas, I find, that one can do reasonable work on 4 valve non-compers, even if 5 valvers of course open up more options for optimal fingerings.

Wenzel and Roland Meinl both make rotary (bend) cimbassos, that have found acclaim among pro players. Kalison at least a one point of time offered a 4 piston BBb (bend) cimbasso. Orsi currently offers an upright 4 piston BBb cimbasso/Verdi tuba (small bore if seen as a tuba).

However they all are way out of my league, when it comes to price. The original poster lives in Europe, as I do. Both within reasonable distances of Czechia. If I were out for an F "cimbasso", I would apply some smart and thoroughly planned shopping strategies in Praha to get the Cerveny 4 rotary valved bass trombone in F at a reasonable price.

OK, it is straight, but so was the cimbasso, that for decades (if not for a century) was used in the Vienna Philharmonic. So I might survive that little hazard. (In Vienna they mounted a crook on the music stand, where the player then hung up the "far" bow).

I don't know users of cimbassos in F, CC, and BBb. But Jay Bertolet has posted on his Eb Wenzel Meinl (?).

This posting went long again, but you have been saved some of it. This thread also has generated communication on a private level.

Klaus


Follow Ups: