Reverb(TX): MW Thor

[hrender]

https://reverb.com/item/85767748-meinl- ... -pre-owned

[arpthark]

Nice to see you posting again, Hal.

[Tuba_guy85]

I got to see this horn in person the other week, she's quite the beauty. They actually made brand new finger buttons for the horn in house. Also the horn is cheaper on their website:https://houghtonhorns.com/collections/t ... -pre-owned

[arpthark]

Three things that always kept me away from these models:

- too tall

- very awkward/cramping MW 5th valve thumb paddle placement

- no comfortable place to rest your arm while slide pulling

I suppose these issues could be remedied, but the stars never aligned for me to find one at the right price that wasn't silver (which would mean ugly scarring to fix the leadpipe height. Or always carrying around a stand).

Otherwise, I really like them and how they play. I even got the chance to borrow Joe's old one for a summer concert series. As good as advertised.

[Sousaswag]

All of those things you mentioned are things I (as a tall person with long arms and fingers) love about this model. It’s one of the few “factory” instruments I can be completely comfortable with.

YMMV, obviously…

Great price for that tuba, though. Someone will be very happy.

[bloke]

Three things that always kept me away from these models:

- too tall

- very awkward/cramping MW 5th valve thumb paddle placement

- no comfortable place to rest your arm while slide pulling

I suppose these issues could be remedied, but the stars never aligned for me to find one at the right price that wasn't silver (which would mean ugly scarring to fix the leadpipe height. Or always carrying around a stand).

Otherwise, I really like them and how they play. I even got the chance to borrow Joe's old one for a summer concert series. As good as advertised.

Although those people are my daughters in-laws, I really don't care whether anyone buys it or not nor likes it or not. When I used to own one, I totally reconfigured the thumb ring (cutting/brazing) so as to offer a 45° angle, which proved to be absolute pollexerfection. I operated the first valve slide by holding on to it with my thumb and index finger on the ferrule of the (player's) left tube reaching through from the back, and it was effortless. One other thing is that I might be a little more tall-waisted than you, or something.

The open E needs a good bit of convincing, but the E flat doesn't need much (I did not play those pitches on the sixth partial.) I preferred to play C below the staff with 513 when sitting on it, but it's not just that model. So many instruments feature a sharp open second partial, which transfers all the way down through the valve combinations. Otherwise, I did get in the habit of relaxing that pitch downward.

Boasting, I find that both of my go-to B-flat instruments that I'm using these days offer fewer minor tuning issues, though I still need to keep my hand on the first valve slide, but - these days - I'm also strivng to do a better job with the fourth partial 2-3 combination, because I figured out a way to do it without moving my hand off the first slide.
(Serendipitously, my smaller B-flat instrument seems to feature a fairly well-behaving F-sharp at the bottom of the staff.)

Finally, lighter spring tension and lighter valve bodies tend to eliminate ergonomic issues remarkably more than many people realize.

I've become such a bigot over the last couple of years (think of how easy it is to trigger former smokers) that I probably object to the model 5450 being pitched in C more than anything else about it.

[arpthark]

I'm a fairly short guy with an even shorter torso (5'6" on a good day, and most of that is my legs). I do have long-ish arms, but the Thor was just too big for me, ergonomically. My old PT-6 (similar size instrument) didn't have as many physical barriers, for me.

If the Thor had a lower mouthpipe placement along with one of those big bars across the inside of the upper bow, like those BMB F tubas, then we'd be in business.