bloke wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 11:14 am
I lengthened mine with salvaged tubing from an old Miraphone trashed model 1270 "Standard" (top action 3/4 from the mid-1970s).
I had a Miraphone Standard that I bought on Reverb for like $100, and had planned to do the same thing, but someone messaged me asking if I had any BBb tubas available. It was in pieces in my garage, but I said that I could slap that together, and I ended up selling it for more than the new tubing cost, plus I don't have to worry about getting the Miraphone parts nickel plated, etc. So, it worked out in the end to get them already faced, finished and the appropriate length from The Berliner Tuba's shop.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 12:01 pm
by prodigal
arpthark wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 9:16 am
Bumping a thread from last year. I've had this horn for a year and I love it. I play it all the time, especially in my klezmer band. Yesterday at a gig I did a jazzy little version of "Bei Mir Bist Du Shein" by the Andrews Sisters on this tuba:
Anyway, the only thing really holding it back was the short fifth valve tubing. I just ordered parts from Germany to extend it, so I'm pretty happy about that.
It hadn't been a huge problem for a couple reasons: most of the playing I do on it is in the staff, and fortuitously on the klezmer tunes where I'm doing more of an oom-pah line, they're in sharp keys like G or D, so low Bb doesn't come up much.
I used it recently on Shostakovich's Russian Easter Overture and it worked really well with that. The trombones really liked it.
I mean, if you need a little more low range, we could switch horns for awhile (It would be really hard to give her back to you, though!)
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 2:24 pm
by cjk
I find myself wondering if this particular tuba previously belonged to David Graves.
He rebuilt (or had rebuilt) Chuck Schultz's B&S Symphonie in a very similar way. It might be the same horn?
If it is, that tuba helped teach me all through high school.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 2:32 pm
by arpthark
cjk wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 2:24 pm
I find myself wondering if this particular tuba previously belonged to David Graves.
He rebuilt (or had rebuilt) Chuck Schultz's B&S Symphonie in a very similar way. It might be the same horn?
If it is, that tuba helped teach me all through high school.
From the way I understood it, the work as you see it had been done fairly recently, within the past two years or so. It was left hand thumb operated and I was given those parts in a plastic bag. Matt Walters did the work on the 5th valve conversion for the previous owner.
cjk wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 2:24 pm
I find myself wondering if this particular tuba previously belonged to David Graves.
He rebuilt (or had rebuilt) Chuck Schultz's B&S Symphonie in a very similar way. It might be the same horn?
If it is, that tuba helped teach me all through high school.
From the way I understood it, the work as you see it had been done fairly recently, within the past two years or so. It was left hand thumb operated and I was given those parts in a plastic bag. Matt Walters did the work on the 5th valve conversion for the previous owner.
David's horn was already completed when we corresponded around 2005, so yours probably isn't the same instrument. Thanks for entertaining my query.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 3:12 pm
by bloke
That one was 5-rotor, clockspring linkage, imported by Giardinelli, and manufactured in 1977.
I wouldn't be surprised if they only paid (wholesale) $200 - $300 each for those.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 3:23 pm
by cjk
bloke wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 3:12 pm
That one was 5-rotor, clockspring linkage, imported by Giardinelli, and manufactured in 1977.
I wouldn't be surprised if they only paid (wholesale) $200 - $300 each for those.
I want to say that I saw a picture of it, post David's updates, in the 200Xs He had either rebuilt (or maybe replaced?) all the valves. The fifth valve linkage was done with miraphone parts like arpthark's. The linkage was updated to minibals or maybe Miraphone linkage. He had replaced the clockworks with typical sprung spatulas too iirc. Sadly, the airplane sticker was gone.
bloke wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 3:12 pm
That one was 5-rotor, clockspring linkage, imported by Giardinelli, and manufactured in 1977.
I wouldn't be surprised if they only paid (wholesale) $200 - $300 each for those.
The deal of the century/millennium, heck, of all time!
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 4:55 pm
by bloke
I'm talking about Giardinelli, and what they may have paid.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:56 pm
by Diego A. Stine
I think that Symphonie might be mine, as it matches the description (1977 Giardinelli, redone Miraphone-esque linkages, had a 5th valve slide trigger installed). It's made its way through a couple of owners before ending up with me, but it's a special instrument.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2026 8:45 pm
by bloke
Diego A. Stine wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:56 pm
I think that Symphonie might be mine, as it matches the description (1977 Giardinelli, redone Miraphone-esque linkages, had a 5th valve slide trigger installed). It's made its way through a couple of owners before ending up with me, but it's a special instrument.
It was/is pretty darn good.
I borrowed it to audition for one of those orchestras out west several decades ago.
To say that I was one of the finalists is a silly claim.
It was one of those formalities whereby the person who been playing for a year got to keep the job.
I must say though, it behaved well for me.
They ran us through several Berlioz excerpts (too many, and not enough contrabass tuba excerpts), and that tuba performed well on all of those for me.
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 9:09 am
by cjk
Diego A. Stine wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:56 pm
I think that Symphonie might be mine, as it matches the description (1977 Giardinelli, redone Miraphone-esque linkages, had a 5th valve slide trigger installed). It's made its way through a couple of owners before ending up with me, but it's a special instrument.
Hi Diego, Would you mind posting some pictures of it?
Diego A. Stine wrote: Mon Jun 01, 2026 7:56 pm
I think that Symphonie might be mine, as it matches the description (1977 Giardinelli, redone Miraphone-esque linkages, had a 5th valve slide trigger installed). It's made its way through a couple of owners before ending up with me, but it's a special instrument.
Hi Diego, Would you mind posting some pictures of it?
Thanks, Christian
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 9:01 pm
by bloke
Seeing that picture, I keep thinking of gently putting a new finish on my own Symphonie F (and shooting with lacquer)...but then there would be TWO images of the fat old man holding it in their lap...the real one, and the one seen reflected in the tuba's bell.
fact: I'd rather play it than polish it.
the tuba:
It's probably the same one, but too many changes to confirm via the picture.
The last time I saw it, there was a little shiny blue butterfly stuck on the bell near the engraving - put there by Stephanie Schulz (then: probably 5 years old...now: in her 50's
Re: B&S Symphonie F
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 1:16 pm
by prodigal
I'm still trying to get to my 186, but that darn PT-15 still gets in the way. What a high-maintenance horn! She's just so distracting.
I love my PT-15, but yes, I know the Symphonie rules , so you guys with them, give them a honk for ole prodigal, who's remembering that hard life lesson: Most times we don't appreciate how good something is until it's gone.
(It would be really hard to give her back to you, though!)
She's just so distracting.
, so you guys with them, give them a honk for ole prodigal, who's remembering that hard life lesson: Most times we don't appreciate how good something is until it's gone. 