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I have been using a Hirsbrunner 290 for the last 5 years while in college. As I start working and wont be practicing every day I am looking to sell it and get a more durable piston horn. I was looking online and could not find many recent sales of the horn, or much information on it at all.
My horn has lacquer peeling off in a couple spots on the inside of the bell and a couple dents on the bell, but no significant damage in and around the rotors/valves.

I was wondering if anyone on here had experiences buying/selling a HB 290 so I know what I should be looking for price-wise.

I believe this was marketed by Custom Music in the USA as the HB-2. You might look at that model number in your search. A big question as far as price is whether they have the plastic rotors or not. If so, they tend cheaper. One with the plastic rotors recently sold at Dillon Music for something a bit less than $7,000, I want to say.

I don’t think a piston horn is inherently more durable than a rotor one…

But yeah, I’d want to know if it has the plastic rotors. If it does, that doesn't make it a bad tuba, but it does hurt resale value.

The thing about Hirsbrunners is, they can sell for more just because of the name on the bell. I let my absolute cream-puff HB-2P go for $12,000.

Post some pictures of your horn here, or, PM me and I can post them for you.

You’re probably within the range of $6,500-$7,000 with plastic rotors in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition, or about $8,000-$10,000 for an all metal rotor horn in the same cosmetic and mechanical condition.

When I say “excellent” I mean, little to no wear to the finish, few, if any, dents, and few, if any, past repairs.

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Here is my old HB-2P (Model 390) that I sold. Man, what a gorgeous instrument.

Thank you for the information! I saw the HB-2 but wasn’t 100% sure if it was the same horn.
I’m pretty sure that the rotors are plastic, based on how they looked on the inside of the casing last time it was repaired. Are the plastic rotors completely plastic, or are they partially metal?

My horn isn’t in excellent condition, but it isn’t busted. I attached Google Drive folders with some photos of it.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... mbr7iy9UoJ

The photos at the end of the folder show the chippedspots of lacquer and the dent on the top of the bell.

Thank you

It’s sort of a metal-plastic “sandwich” to describe it simply. Plastic “core” inside metal. They have a reputation of getting stuck because they expand at different rates.

In any case, your horn looks pretty nice. If you’re going to sell it, I’d suggest you have it professionally cleaned, and that bell boo-boo rolled out.

I’d guess you’re looking at around $7,000 now, as is. Get the needed cleaning and dent removal, and you may be at $7,500 to $8,000 with a case, and to the right person.

The worn away silver plate isn’t a deal breaker for many people, considering the age of most Hirsbrunner tubas these days.

Yea I definitely have plastic rotors, that matches what it looked like. I’ve also had issues with them sticking so that adds up.

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look to get it cleaned and the bell buffed out so I can look for someone to buy soon.

Unfortunate that it’s not the better version, but I appreciate the help and you looking over everything.

Once you get the bell sorted out, I'd list it at the tuba forum sites and Facebook tuba groups for maximum exposure and probably list it for something like $8,500 and be willing to entertain offers in the 7-8k range.

There is a nice looking one of these located just a few miles from me, but it has sat unsold for three years because the owner is asking $10k firm.