Posted by Rick Denney on May 13, 2001 at 17:42:25:
In Reply to: Re: (Long) Road Trip Report: Dillon Music posted by Chuck Jackson on May 11, 2001 at 22:59:37:
York Masters were made by Boehm and Meinl in the 50's and 60's. I think I've finally persuaded myself that no actual York tooling was involved--certainly parts from original Yorks are not interchangeable.
Clearly, though, B&M was making what they wanted to be an American-style horn at a time when other European makers were almost exclusively making rotary tubas. At the very least, they were trying to make a horn that would be consistent with the York label.
I agree with what many others have concluded, that great horns are discovered rather than designed. Sometimes they arrived through a series of incremental changes, or evolution, and at other times the maker seemed inspired. In any case, it is likely that there were a host of mediocre horns made in years past that decorate restaurant walls or were melted and recycled into something more useful. So, it's likely that the best examples from yesteryear will be over-represented among its contemporaries. It is also likely that they may not be as good as the best horns of today.
In my opinion the York Master was, along with the Marzan tubas, B&M's best work, and the design they thought most successful. It seems clear to me that Nirschl's modern horns are at least partly derived from those horns made in the same factory decades ago. It also seems clear that York was working to specific design parameters: Interchangeable bells, bi-radial bell design, front-action pistons, .75" bore, short leadpipes, and an early start to the taper. All these are characteristics of American designs, and it seems that they found a good combination.
I've never played a real York, and I doubt I'm qualified to render an opinion that would do anybody any good (not that that would stop me, heh, heh). I have played several York copies, and at least one Yorkenstein with the real deal on the outer branches. I liked many of them, but not all of them.
One characteristic I look for is a sense of wanting to make music on the horn (whether or not I can is a different question). It's a feeling of relaxing into the sound, rather than feeling like I have to do something to make it happen. That characteristic I've found on a early Yorkbrunner, a big Yorkenstein (with Nirschl valves), a Beuscher/Nirschl creation of Matt's, and even a couple of good Miraphones, among others. And, of course, the York Master.
So, the short answer is that the York Master is a York in name only, but it was seemingly made with a deep respect for that name and enjoyed some degree of success in living up to it. That's one of the reasons I always try to remember to call it a York Master, and not just a York.
Rick "a mediocre tuba player swimming in deep waters here" Denney