POLL

[bloke]

[Mary Ann]

only if it's a Norwegian star

[bort2.0]

I'd only buy it if it were electrocically cleaned first.

Switch the 2 and the 4 and still 'no'

[arpthark]

I saw that today. It's an old 184 BBb.

"Very Good Condition!"

[Three Valves]

Fools.

That there is a $400 optional tone enhancing device!

[York-aholic]

I'd pay $4500 just for the "tone enhancing device" so that I could use it on different tubas (the wonders of velcro!)

[windshieldbug]

Is there a similar patch on the inside of the bell?

[kingrob76]

Built-in belt buckle? Sign me up.

[Rick Denney]

Bullet hole?

Rick "don't shoot the tuba player" Denney

[arpthark]

Just needs a Harley emblem engraved on it.

[the elephant]

It depends on what was being patched. Is it a big hole, a long crack that has been sanded so thin that it can no longer be brazed, or what?

However, that is not the original bell, anyway, and I would not pay that much for a 184 at all, ever. I do not like them and would not own one. Not my cuppa, so to speak.

If it were a highly desirable (to me) instrument, and there was nothing else at all wrong with it AND it played quite well, yes, I would, if I thought that whatever was beneath that patch was fixable by me (without regard to cost, just the amount of work needed).

As displayed: no freaking way.

[arpthark]

It depends on what was being patched. It is a big hole, a long crack that has been sanded so thin that it can no longer be brazed, or what?

However, that is not the original bell, anyway, and I would not pay that much for a 184 at all, ever. I do not like them and would not own one. Not my cuppa, so to speak.

If it were a highly desirable (to me) instrument, and there was nothing else at all wrong with it AND it played quite well, yes, I would, if I thought that whatever was beneath that patch was fixable by me (without regard to cost, just the amount of work needed).

As displayed: no freaking way.

Here is the eBay listing; the bell looks original to me, but I don't know nothin'.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/314550804698?h ... OSwSrFkRt8~

[bloke]

I'm not going back to check the listing, but I believe I recall something like a small letter "a" being put after the model number. Whether what I'm remembering the listing correctly (...??) is either legitimate or correct, I'm wondering if it's one of those budget so-called student models that actually featured an S after the model number which were made a few decades ago and featured no bell krantz.

Here's something else that complicates repairing old model 84 B flat tubas:

I'm thinking that the bells and bottom bows of the B flat vs. C models in the past were different from each other, and I suspect they are now the same. The old B-flat bells were longer than the C beĺls and ended up smaller at the small end, and the B-flat bottom bows were also smaller at the large end. I'm thinking they changed this when they brought the model back and made those parts the same on both models. If I'm correct (??), that would make it difficult to replace that bell. I had to replace a bell on one that I fixed up to sell, used an old C bell in good condition, but had to also do a very special trick to make it work.

[arpthark]

I'm not going back to check the listing, but I believe I recall something like a small letter "a" being put after the model number. Whether what I'm remembering the listing correctly (...??) is either legitimate or correct, I'm wondering if it's one of those budget so-called student models that actually featured an S after the model number which were made a few decades ago and featured no bell krantz.

Here's something else that complicates repairing old model 84 B flat tubas:

I'm thinking that the bells and bottom bows of the B flat vs. C models in the past were different from each other, and I suspect they are now the same. The old B-flat bells were longer than the C beĺls and ended up smaller at the small end, and the B-flat bottom bows were also smaller at the large end. I'm thinking they changed this when they brought the model back and made those parts the same on both models. If I'm correct (??), that would make it difficult to replace that bell. I had to replace a bell on one that I fixed up to sell, used an old C bell in good condition, but had to also do a very special trick to make it work.

Yeah, 'tis listed as an 84A. In Miraphonese, the A/B distinction after the model number refers to the number of valves. 84B would be a five valve tuba, and 84A is a four-valve. But yes, this one definitely has the trappings of an "S" model, with less filigree. I had a 186-S that was an excellent tuba, fancy engravings/kranz or not.

[bloke]

[cjk]

That's what was sold in the US as an "S184" (iirc, might have been 184-S, but I recall the S being at the beginning in the catalogs, I could be wrong).

It was one of the cheaper, less ornamented models.

You can tell by the plain ferrules, the un-engraved valves, the plain brass valve slides, and the lack of a krantz.

That's the original bell.

It looks to be in decent shape other than the bell.

It's obviously way way overpriced else bloke woulda bought it already had the opposite been true.

[YorkNumber3.0]

.

[bloke]

IMG_0604.jpeg

I put those on (so far) two instruments to be silly, but - you know... - thieves are so damn dumb, that they would probably LEAVE THOSE ON THERE when advertising them for sale. ...and - if they pawned them - a pawn shop certainly would not remove them. They're not anywhere close to as good as a GPS device but (based on what I just said) they might (??) actually have some (not anti-theft, but) recovery abilities.

@cjk
I may (or may not...y'all assume NOT, because I'm NEITHER a parts junkyard NOR used parts jobber) have another old 84 bell - and could repeat the same "trick" to replace the bell...but I'd only be in for $XXX for that noble (no-bell) body, and I'd like to know something about the condition of the ROTORS.

[tokuno]

. . . I would not pay that much for a 184 at all, ever. I do not like them and would not own one. Not my cuppa, so to speak.

I confess: my inner juvenile (ok, that's pretty much all of me), is aching for someone to turn this into Seuss-ian verse.

[arpthark]

. . . I would not pay that much for a 184 at all, ever. I do not like them and would not own one. Not my cuppa, so to speak.

I confess: my inner juvenile (ok, that's pretty much all of me), is aching for someone to turn this into Seuss-ian verse.

I will not buy your 184,
I will not buy it from the floor;

I will not buy it, for I've found
it will not give me world-class sound;

I will not buy it from the 'Bay,
It will not be my horn to play;

I do not like your 184,
I do not like it, shut the door!

I do not like its tinny tone,
I do not like this Mirafone;

P-H or F, it's so confusing,
and upon the ear, the sound's abusing!

I do not like its patchwork bell,
you can send this tuba straight to...