Posted by Mike Solms on November 01, 2001 at 15:40:48:
In Reply to: Miraphone 186 posted by Mary Ann on November 01, 2001 at 15:28:41:
186's come in both CC and BBflat, and in 4 and 5 valve versions. The traditional method Mirafone used for reference went like this. A 186CC5U was a 5-valve CC, a 186BB4U wasa 4-valve BBflat, and so forth. There is a thread just below started by Ian Easton that includes a decoder sheet for the current designations. Bore for all is .778 inches. 186's originally had 16.5" bells. The bell size was increased to 17.25", but I am not certain of the date.