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New on consignment at Denton Big Brass: a somewhat rare Alexander baritontuba (model 151G), unlacquered gold brass with 4 valves, in Bb (same octave as euphonium). The bell is 12" and total instrument height is 28". This takes a large shank euphonium mouthpiece. Recently chem cleaned and serviced at our Denton TX location. This instrument comes with a gig bag. Price is $4500
For more info or an appointment to try this instrument in Denton, please email Carl@DentonBigBrass.com
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These users thanked the author Denton Big Brass for the post (total 4):
This is wicked cool. I had a chance to play one recently and they don't really play anything at all like a compensating euph, IMO. More like a little F tuba. Really unique instrument. Tempted to flesh out my current stable of Alexanders...
arpthark wrote: ↑Thu Jan 30, 2025 9:50 am
This is wicked cool. I had a chance to play one recently and they don't really play anything at all like a compensating euph, IMO. More like a little F tuba. Really unique instrument. Tempted to flesh out my current stable of Alexanders...
Carl, I am fully cognizant that this is a stupid question, but would you be interested in a trade?
I am selling my 186 (only because I need longer need it) for $6.500. If I can playtest this guy first, I would be willing to make an even trade. I would only ever need it for Bydlo and The Planets. (Both are coming up in the next couple of years.)
I can drive to you.
1971 Mirafone 186-5U CC with new valve section, raw brass, yada, yada, yada. Blue Miraphone 196 bag in excellent condition. No hard case.
After you stop laughing at me please feel free to post your kindly worded "Take a hike," reply…
Looks like this when polished up. I traded out the modern 5th "bar" lever for the old-style lever after I took this pic. The black bag was sold and replaced with an actual Miraphone bag, too.
Looks like this right now…
These users thanked the author the elephant for the post:
These users thanked the author Mary Ann for the post (total 6):
arpthark (Sun Feb 09, 2025 3:54 pm) • UncleBeer (Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:33 pm) • the elephant (Sun Feb 09, 2025 7:45 pm) • York-aholic (Sun Feb 09, 2025 11:05 pm) • BramJ (Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:27 am) and one more user
Might as well put it here instead of in Updates. I think I may be getting the hang of the low range, which is, um, interesting. I've gone from mff mff mff to an actual sound, although that not be pretty yet, nor hitting exact pitches. But I can see where it is do-able.
I am highly inclined to shine it up if I can find a source for Maas that isn't Chinese, but it looks like whatever produces Maas now has moved overseas. I don't know of another polish that isn't harder on the metal. I know from my gold brass unlacquered horn that it shines up astonishingly with an ultrasound cleaning, but the Alex doesn't need that; it arrived clean inside.
These users thanked the author Mary Ann for the post:
Not many people have a lot of experience with kaiser baritones. I do have some experience with both Miraphone (with a straight bell) and Melton (with a straight bell - which was the same model that Rich Matteson used prior to moving over to a Yamaha small or euphonium). I messed around with really large mouthpieces (mouthpieces which would be classified as euphonium and bass trombone mouthpieces) for a while with not much success.
Eventually, I discovered that I had considerably more success with smaller mouthpieces such as 5G or even 6-1/2AL.
I have no idea what would work for other people with these instruments.
I had used Maas (silver tube, kinda pinkish) for certain things for years. Tube lasted a long time. When it ran out (a year or so ago), I noticed some ridiculous prices on what I had. Did a bit of research and opted for a larger and less expensive container of “Maas.” It was supposed to be the same as what I had. Well, it turned out to be NOTHING like what I had been using. To me, a complete waste of money and time. The stuff I used it on had to be redone. I used Wenol (still a German product…) to redo everything because it’s what I had on hand. I was completely satisfied with the results.
Maas is dead to me. It’s crap.
These users thanked the author MiBrassFS for the post (total 4):
bloke (Sun Mar 02, 2025 8:17 am) • York-aholic (Sun Mar 02, 2025 9:31 am) • arpthark (Sun Mar 02, 2025 10:28 am) • Mary Ann (Sun Mar 02, 2025 3:06 pm)
Oh -- on Kaiser baritones and intonation. This one does not have significant problems; not perfect but absolutely playable. The previous owner constructed a means of pulling the easily accessible first slide --- well, not a means to pull it but an adjustable stop so that you could pull it most of the way out quickly without going too far and having it fly into the hinterlands. Probably most would extend the 4th slide to act as compensating for multiple valve use (instead of using it like I do, as a single valve) and pull the 1st slide as needed, as most probably do with BBb tubas. I'm still a lipper and given the level of the groups I play with, that is good enough.
Oh, and I have Wenol on the way.
These users thanked the author Mary Ann for the post:
I've often wondered if those things were like miniature versions of the Kaiser B flat tubas, because the intonation characteristics often seem to be so similar.
