Posted by Dale Phelps on March 23, 1999 at 10:39:54:
In Reply to: Re: Re: good BBb? posted by Sean Chisham on March 23, 1999 at 08:41:43:
Actually Sean, I have been told these horns stopped production
about 8-10 years ago. They do have an interesting history, though.
The factory they came from is the German factory which produced
the Master model line for York after the war, hence the tooling
availability for these fine B & M 's. The York Master line
ceased prod in the late 50's/60's timeframe. Fred Marzan snuck
in there for a while and that collaboration tested some ideas
he had, most notably the main tuning slide up on the right hand
side of the horn...easy access! I'm told NOBODY will sell their Marzan
tuba ... folks who have one tend to keep them. Period. Fred also
brought along a biz deal with DEG and marketed his horns for a while
here stateside, when he had a falling out...DEG continued to market
the horns as Bohm and Meinl. There were two models, the 5500 and the 5510
(or 5520?) The 5500 was the BBflat horn, the other was CC.
The CC tubas have a reputation as being HORRIBLY inconsistent,
the BBflats are known to be very consistent and NICE horns.
I am amazed at how inexpensive they are on the used horn market.
When I bought my B & M from last summer, my teacher told me to stay
away from the horn because of its poor reputation as a CC horn,
until I told him that mine was a BBflat that had been cut to CC
by Bob Rusk. He said BUY IT (the key was the work that Bob had done.)
Well, I bought the horn. Plays like a York, blows very free, centers easy
and intonation happens when I "hear the pitch" - no work at all!
(I am told Mr. Jacobs said, "yup that's a York alright")
Great velvety sound and surprising power for a 4/4-5/4 instrument.
If the BBflats play anything like my horn, I'd snag them in a minute.
20 minutes after my teacher played mine...he wanted to buy it to replace
his old handbuilt HB-2. Says I could probably double my money on it.
I'll never sell it. At least not today.
Regards,
Dale