Sold: B&S/VMI Musica CC 5V tuba

[jtm]

$2400. It's near Austin, TX, and I'd love to make a local sale, but I can probably ship if needed.

This is a Musica-branded CC tuba made by B&S. Likely about 20 years old. It's very nicely made, with nickel silver couplings and a rose brass lead pipe to resist red rot. The valves are smooth and quiet, and all the slides move easily. Intonation is good and easy.

Comes with an Altieri bag that fits perfectly and is in like new condition.

The tuba is shown with the normal flat-whole-step 5th valve slide, but a couple of pictures show the additional slide that can be used for 5th valve instead, making it slightly longer than 2 steps.

The bell has some marks from being straightened before I bought it last year. You can see them in the top view, but they're subtle. It not something you ever notice.

More pictures: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjSV784Qkma_hdk6mG- ... A?e=Gw9Ym8

[KingTuba1241X]

Beautiful. Can I ask a dumb question (actually 2 dumb questions)? If someone wires the 5th valve closed (whole step) does it play with in-tune B flat fingerings?

[matt g]

Beautiful. Can I ask a dumb question (actually 2 dumb questions)? If someone wires the 5th valve closed (whole step) does it play with in-tune B flat fingerings?

Not really...

I owned a Mel Culbertson VMI Neptune (PT-7P with a wider bell flare) that had a “short enough” fifth valve slide and was built for A=445 or something and I could swing a fake BBb for brass band with some rubber bands on the fifth paddle and pulling assorted slides. I only owned one horn, so that’s why I did it.

I own a MW2165 that came with the BBb slides that can be used in place of the CC main tuning slide. Then I pull the slides appropriately.

In both cases, the character of the horn is modified in terms of both intonation and timbre. The 2165 suffers less effects in timbre, but more in intonation (relying on memory here) whereas the piston Neptune suffered a bit more in terms of timbre, but it already wasn’t as stable as the 2165 in terms of pitch.

It’s something that can be done in a pinch, when no other options exist. If you’re considering a horn like this to buy and use as a BBb until you figure out CC fingerings, don’t. It’s best to just learn the fingerings or wait until a BBb more to your liking shows up.

I say this with full acknowledgment that this is a fantastic deal on a nicely made all purpose tuba that could service 90%+ of the undergraduate tuba majors out there.

[KingTuba1241X]

Beautiful. Can I ask a dumb question (actually 2 dumb questions)? If someone wires the 5th valve closed (whole step) does it play with in-tune B flat fingerings?

Not really...

I owned a Mel Culbertson VMI Neptune (PT-7P with a wider bell flare) that had a “short enough” fifth valve slide and was built for A=445 or something and I could swing a fake BBb for brass band with some rubber bands on the fifth paddle and pulling assorted slides. I only owned one horn, so that’s why I did it.

I own a MW2165 that came with the BBb slides that can be used in place of the CC main tuning slide. Then I pull the slides appropriately.

In both cases, the character of the horn is modified in terms of both intonation and timbre. The 2165 suffers less effects in timbre, but more in intonation (relying on memory here) whereas the piston Neptune suffered a bit more in terms of timbre, but it already wasn’t as stable as the 2165 in terms of pitch.

It’s something that can be done in a pinch, when no other options exist. If you’re considering a horn like this to buy and use as a BBb until you figure out CC fingerings, don’t. It’s best to just learn the fingerings or wait until a BBb more to your liking shows up.

I say this with full acknowledgment that this is a fantastic deal on a nicely made all purpose tuba that could service 90%+ of the undergraduate tuba majors out there.

Yeah I figured that much. I wish the cheaper Mack Brass 410's played in dual keys easier, always loved the look of the 186 CC better than the B flat. Ok sorry to hijack the thread. Good luck with the sale!

[jtm]

Beautiful. Can I ask a dumb question (actually 2 dumb questions)? If someone wires the 5th valve closed (whole step) does it play with in-tune B flat fingerings?

While matt g is right, it does work fairly well for this particular tuba. The 5th valve slide moves in far enough, and the others (maybe not 4th) have enough extension to be pulled out a little. 5th valve slide moves easily and is convenient to reach. I've used that trick a couple times where the Bb fingering for a passage was nicer than the C fingering. Notes like low C and B with 5-4 and 5-2-4 do have a lot of straight tubing, and you can hear and feel the difference compared to a Bb tuba (and especially compared to C and B with the C fingerings, open and 2, where there's very little straight tubing).

So, matt is right that "[if] you’re considering a horn like this to buy and use as a BBb until you figure out CC fingerings, don’t." But it might be reasonable to buy it as a C tuba to learn on, with the option to use some Bb fingerings in a pinch, like if you're sight-reading something complicated in the first couple months learning the new fingerings.

Thanks for the good luck, too.

[TubaDaniel]

PM sent!

[jtm]

Sold.

It does look pretty nice in that first picture, after all.

[jtm]

I'm pleased with how this turned out.

As I heard it, an instructor at one college spotted the listing and passed it on to another instructor at a different college, who in turn recommended it to a student. So now the student is happy to have his own tuba that a previous poster described as "a fantastic deal on a nicely made all purpose tuba that could service 90%+ of the undergraduate tuba majors out there," his professor reportedly likes it, and I'm happy the the tuba will be played, since I was neglecting it.

Thanks to whoever kicked off that referral chain!