https://www.ebay.com/itm/304045856600?h ... ition=3000
Beat up Miraphone 186 $1k
-
York-aholic
- Posts: 1428
- Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 10:39 pm
- Location: SoCal
- Has thanked: 1550 times
- Been thanked: 467 times
Beat up Miraphone 186 $1k
The bell looks to have seen better days but for $1099... Dallas, Texas. With case.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/304045856600?h ... ition=3000
https://www.ebay.com/itm/304045856600?h ... ition=3000
Some old Yorks, Martins, and perhaps a King rotary valved CC
-
the elephant
- Posts: 3371
- Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:39 am
- Location: 404 - Not Found
- Has thanked: 1892 times
- Been thanked: 1329 times
Re: Beat up Miraphone 186 $1k
Avoid.
This bell is a replacement and is at the end of its life. The seller's "technician" ruined the flare. The creases were not removed properly and are now filled with soft solder. To silver solder them closed requires ALL of the lead be removed. To do that would require the holed areas be sanded or buffed to the thickness of aluminum foil. To patch them also looks like a losing prospect.
The top and bottom bows are probably not replacements like the bell is, but the guards have been replaced with a Conn-like guard wire. The replacement bell (no factory serial number) and the outer bows prove that this horn has been very poorly overhauled, so it may be full of super-thin spots that can tear or be holed easily, or at least become very easily dented. To remove all the seams and other marks hidden by the old guards would require a lot of belt sander work followed by a lot of buffer work. The outside-the-curve faces of these two parts are probably way too thin for any serious use.
There is a fixed rate of $100 for shipping, so this is actually a $1,200.00 money pit. If you could get it for about $750 it might make a good parts tuba if the valves and slides all work well. Seeing how it has been budget overhauled (poorly) at least once in the past and then was treated so poorly by the students or owner so that it had to be fixed up a great deal just to look this bad, I would bet the valves and slides are just as trashed.
Also of note: my cursory inspection of the photos shows that not one of the five branches in the bugle is without dents that would require a full disassembly and some work to remove. All of them. The leadpipe and waterkey branch are also dented up.
So, a hugely trashed bell (trashed by both kids AND at least one "technician") and two very suspect outer bows, unknown valves and slides, and every component of the bugle having dents in areas not easy to access, I would strongly encourage anyone here to avoid this horn unless it is VERY INEXPENSIVE. The seller likely thinks he has a diamond in the rough, so do not count on bargaining him below his price. He probably paid way too much for it and is trying to break even. He certainly did not factor in much of a repair budget.
Again: AVOID.
If he would sell it to me for about $400 total, shipped to my front door, I would buy it for the parts. If the valves rotate well, do not leak horribly, all the slides pull and are in alignment I might not lose my shirt on it. My guess is that the bugle is not worth saving except as budget-priced spares that would take a lot of time to prep for use, lowering their value quite a bit.
This bell is a replacement and is at the end of its life. The seller's "technician" ruined the flare. The creases were not removed properly and are now filled with soft solder. To silver solder them closed requires ALL of the lead be removed. To do that would require the holed areas be sanded or buffed to the thickness of aluminum foil. To patch them also looks like a losing prospect.
The top and bottom bows are probably not replacements like the bell is, but the guards have been replaced with a Conn-like guard wire. The replacement bell (no factory serial number) and the outer bows prove that this horn has been very poorly overhauled, so it may be full of super-thin spots that can tear or be holed easily, or at least become very easily dented. To remove all the seams and other marks hidden by the old guards would require a lot of belt sander work followed by a lot of buffer work. The outside-the-curve faces of these two parts are probably way too thin for any serious use.
There is a fixed rate of $100 for shipping, so this is actually a $1,200.00 money pit. If you could get it for about $750 it might make a good parts tuba if the valves and slides all work well. Seeing how it has been budget overhauled (poorly) at least once in the past and then was treated so poorly by the students or owner so that it had to be fixed up a great deal just to look this bad, I would bet the valves and slides are just as trashed.
Also of note: my cursory inspection of the photos shows that not one of the five branches in the bugle is without dents that would require a full disassembly and some work to remove. All of them. The leadpipe and waterkey branch are also dented up.
So, a hugely trashed bell (trashed by both kids AND at least one "technician") and two very suspect outer bows, unknown valves and slides, and every component of the bugle having dents in areas not easy to access, I would strongly encourage anyone here to avoid this horn unless it is VERY INEXPENSIVE. The seller likely thinks he has a diamond in the rough, so do not count on bargaining him below his price. He probably paid way too much for it and is trying to break even. He certainly did not factor in much of a repair budget.
Again: AVOID.
If he would sell it to me for about $400 total, shipped to my front door, I would buy it for the parts. If the valves rotate well, do not leak horribly, all the slides pull and are in alignment I might not lose my shirt on it. My guess is that the bugle is not worth saving except as budget-priced spares that would take a lot of time to prep for use, lowering their value quite a bit.
