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Today, I acquired a very interesting horn. It is a 4 string rotary valve tuba in CC. The valves are almost at a 45 degree angle. The four slides for the valves are all in the rear of the horn. On the bottom of the bell just above the feral in script it reads R A KAEMPF Maker 297 Bowery New York. Kaempf was a brass instrument maker in NYC. An early American made CC tuba from the 19th Century.

That's cool as hell! How does it play?

Pretty sure Vince has one of those

bort2.0 wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:07 pm That's cool as hell! How does it play?

Small bore...plays so-so...

LOVE IT! Very unique, very beautiful.

LeMark wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 7:08 pm Pretty sure Vince has one of those

LOL...so was that remark meant as a “so what?“

That’s got to be rare as haail...and seems to be in remarkably fine condition...not to mention extremely elegant !!!

not al all, it was meant more like "wow, I know two people that own horns like that"

At least I "think" Vince has one like that. Honestly, when I was there, I saw so many tubas that I had no idea existed, it was pretty staggering

Here's the one Vince has. He just got it the day I was there. I was the first person to see it other than him, and it doesn't look like it's on the website yet

That's really cool, Mark.

I particularly like seeing contrabass tubas which offer enough room to easily enhance to 6-valve instruments...

' also clever to tilt the rotors to avoid any need for (noisy) linkage pivots.

The one shown at the beginning of this thread is about 1000% more artful - in its design - than the NC one.

@bisontuba and @LeMark these photos would be cool to post on IG if you’re both onboard, seeing as how rare this seems.

The angled valve set is really cool. Not only does it negate the additional pivot point as Bloke mentioned but it also allows for all of the valve tubing to route directly to the back for easier access to the player.
I'm wondering if this design died out before it was properly explored.
Thanks for sharing!

Mark @bisontuba

Do you mind if I put your pics on IG?

Sure..no problem...

ok, I'll put it on there later in the week, so it doesn't get jumbled with the regular Tuesday update

Hi-
Thanks to Rick Benjamin ( Rick is the founder and conductor of the world-renowned Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. He has an active career as a pianist and tubist as well as an arranger), new light has been shown on Kaempf tubas, or actually who played one! Rick is writing a book on musical pioneers of this era....can’t wait to buy a copy.

Courtesy of Rick:

An American Tuba Pioneer -

ANTON REITER was one of America’s first professional tubists. He was born in Bavaria on 1 February, 1840. Nothing is known of his early life, but he was presumably educated in that region and introduced to the tuba there as well. Reiter immigrated to the United States in 1869, and took up permanent residence in New York City. He became a pioneer in the development of professional music-making in that growing metropolis. By the mid-1870s, Reiter was perhaps New York’s best known tubist, playing in many of the city’s leading ensembles, eventually including Patrick Gilmore’s Band, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York Philharmonic. Anton Reiter and his contrabass tuba appear in an 1891 photographic portrait in the famous “Harper’s Weekly” January 23, 1892 (*pg. 84-85) magazine. His tuba is apparently a contrabass CC instrument by New York maker R.A. Kaempf. Reiter was the tubist for the American premieres of several famous late 19th century orchestral works, and his performance career continued into the early 1900s. He died at his home on the Upper East Side on 8 April, 1915 and was buried in Brooklyn’s Holy Trinity Cemetery.

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Above: CC 4v Kaempf tuba at the Simonetti Museum


Above: plate from book ‘How to listen to music; Hints and suggestions to untaught lovers of the art N.Y.’ by Henry Edward Krehbiel. Reiter and his easily identifiable Kaempf CC tuba. Book in M Jones collection.

IMG_3396 by
Above: Anton Reiter and his contra bass tuba appear in an 1891 photographic portrait in the famous “Harper’s Weekly” January 23, 1892 ( pgs. 84-85) magazine. It shows the various players in the Philharmonic Society of NY. Again, Reiter and his Kaempf. Original Harper’s in M Jones collection.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/2s3cbCT]IMG_3394
Above: Mr. Reiter being mentioned in the Gilmore Band, courtesy Dave Detwiler.


Rick and I believe that my Kaempf CC is a later Kaempf CC version..see below...
IMG_3399 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/129235491@N05/]

Even after a close examination of the Simonetti Museum Kaempf and Reiter’s Kaempf, the slant rotors and pigtail tuning slide are similar, but you can see slight differences, so Kaempf must have worked to refine/ improve his CC tubas.

From my research & Power Point presentation THE EARLY AMERICAN TUBA, I believe Kaempf’s CC tubas are second oldest American made CC tubas....

Enjoy...
Mark

And watch for tomorrow’s Tuba Tuesday feature...

Hi-
Well, five years later and another Kaempf CC tuba has arrived! It was gifted to me ( thank you Jenny!!!). A bit ‘tired’, but plays. Missing thumb ring, attachment for thumb ring, one strap holder in back, bottom bow guard, etc. The 45 degree angled rotor section! 1st, 2nd, 3rd v tuning slides are on the back….the fourth is inside tubing behind lead pipe in the front, along with the pigtail main tuning slide. I know three like this model…c. 1880’s…Simonetti Museum, this one, and Don Harry collection ( his is silver plated).
39” tall, 15” bell, bore .710 or 18mm.

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Above five: the Kaempf CC tuba

[url=

Above: Tubist Anton Reiter with the NY Philharmonic using a Kaempf CC tuba, c. 1891!

I truly believe that Reiter using his Kaempf CC was the first use of an American CC Tuba in an American orchestra…

Regards-
Mark

Just don't go to Germany and start talking about "mein Kaempf"...

arpthark wrote: Tue Apr 14, 2026 11:27 am Just don't go to Germany and start talking about "mein Kaempf"...

Sound like similar nominal dimensions to a Miraphone 184.

By the turn of the last century, Helleberg was playing a much fatter Sandner CC, and, of course, they only got fatter after that.

This in contrast to the tuba player in Boston whose name I cannot remember who was, according to dim memory, playing an Eb Distin, top action--more French in influence than these German-style tubas.

Rick "connections to Cerveny?" Denney