Posted by Rick Denney on November 20, 2003 at 11:35:37:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Cutting a tuba Bb to Eb or F posted by David Carter on November 20, 2003 at 09:15:38:
No, it was the CC that came first. Daellenbach was using that instrument back into the early 80's at least. The F was introduced in 1989 or thereabouts. I bought mine directly from the Yamaha booth at the last show of the year, and it was the first-year demo horn. The CC's had beend out for a number of years before that--I tried one out at least as far back as 1984. I can't remember when the BBb version came out.
But the 621 series uses the bell and probably the bottom bow from their standard small chassis at the time, such as the 103, if I'm remembering the numbers correctly. I suspect that Yamaha had the same arrangement with Schilke that UMI had with Matt and others that created the Conn 52J, where Schilke was told what parts he had to use and what parts could be new, and he fashioned a good instrument out of those parts. Daellenbach wanted a C that he could cavort around the stage with, and that small-horn chassis was perfect. So most of the parts probably started out in a BBb application.
Between the bottom bow and the valve body, however, I'd bet you won't find one interchangeable part between the CC and F versions. My warning in this thread was that you'd have to retaper every branch, and significantly. Retapering all the outer branches is a big job, but Yamaha has big machines.
Personally, I think the F is the pick of the litter.
Rick "biased" Denney