Bohlund & Fuchs Kaiser BBb Tuba

[TheBerlinerTuba]

Posting for a friend who lives in a mud hut and sends me messages with smoke signals.

For sale, what I can only describe as an unusually good playing, mostly original condition ca1920s Bohlund&Fuchs Kaiser BBb tuba.

Bohlund&Fuchs built this tuba sometime in the mid to late 1920s as a stencel for the firm Kunzel who was a dealer/workshop in Bremen, Germany at that time. Therefore the name Kunzel is engraved on the bell, however this is 100% B&F.
The tuba is about 116cm tall
The bell is about 50cm in diameter and is a one piece design with a huge gusset.
The tubing bore is 21,20mm and the valves have a bore of 22,20mm
It tunes between 440 to 444Hz
The receiver takes a Euro shaft, however an American shaft will still fit.

Condition:
A few small dings here and there. No real dents, no cracks, no patches and no redrot. The leadpipe looks to have repaired as evidenced by the ferrel in the middle of conus, but is likely original. A few small signs of dents work, but it looks to have been done carefully. Someone has the removed the bottom bow comb. Your thighs will say thank you very much.

Valves have been replated by another workshop sometime in the past few years and the linkages have been upgraded with uniball inserts. The valves have excellent compression and are dead silent. Even I am grudgingly impressed.

How does it play? After a few minutes, you will understand why a significant number of german tubists use these instead of modern tubas. It makes a Melton 197 or a Miraphone Sigfried sound like squeeky dog toys in comparison. I'm sorry if that comes across as somewhat mean, but those are the only kaiser tubas that even come close. The intonation is not as point and shoot as the Miraphone, but it's definitely better than the Melton. Unless you are completely and utterly tone deaf, you'll be fine.

The tuba is currently occupying valuable floor space in my workshop in Berlin, Germany.
The price with a decent gigbag is 7,000€. That's not chump change, but if you want one of the best kaiser tubas out there, this is it.
The owner would prefer pick up in Berlin, however shipping is possible, just ask.
I'll try to get a video up in the next days. Until there here's some pics:
Cheers
TheBerlinerTuba