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I recently acquired a museum piece. (Well, if you include the stuff in the museum storage room that is awaiting possible restoration to make it fit for the display floor.)

It is a Carl Fischer Eb, of unknown age. Based on its provenance, it is at least a hundred years old, but I don't know.

I have searched for a serial number, with no luck. The only numbers on it are rather cryptic. On the 1st valve: 16. On the 2nd: 17, with a 3 directly below the 17. And on the 3rd valve: 18. Is this some early designation for assembly purposes? Is it a serial number, of a sort?

acemorgan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 10:06 am I recently acquired a museum piece. (Well, if you include the stuff in the museum storage room that is awaiting possible restoration to make it fit for the display floor.)

It is a Carl Fischer Eb, of unknown age. Based on its provenance, it is at least a hundred years old, but I don't know.

I have searched for a serial number, with no luck. The only numbers on it are rather cryptic. On the 1st valve: 16. On the 2nd: 17, with a 3 directly below the 17. And on the 3rd valve: 18. Is this some early designation for assembly purposes? Is it a serial number, of a sort?

Yes, most likely the numbers are assembly index numbers. If this batch of horns at the factory were three-valve tubas, then 16-17-18 falls right in line as possibly the 6th tuba of this batch, and I would speculate the "3" means a 3-valve horn. I don't know if these horns actually had serial numbers. Others on the forum will have to chime in.

Sometimes the valves themselves have numbers stamped on the tops of them, for assembly purposes. Unscrew the valve caps, and look on teh top of teh valve, under the felt... sometimes, there's a number here, so they know which valve goes in which casing. Or, other times, all the valves have the same number on them, so they are identified as coming from the same instrument.

On the Willson that I used to own, the number "2" was stamped on everything on the tuba. Valve caps, inner slide tubes, every small post and part that could be stamped, was stamped.

I have no knowledge of Carl Fisher tubas, but would suggest checking every joint, ferrule, seam, mouthpiece receiver, etc... could be the case that there is no serial number, as iiipopes mentioned.

My 1890s Conn Eb has a serial number on the 2nd valve casing, as you'd expect. Nothing exotic there!

Post a photo for us, sounds like a cool old tuba. :)

One other odd thing about the tuba:

On the bottom bow, we have this: I understand the need for reinforcing the bow, but this thing is painful. If I were to actually set the tuba in front of me, on the portion of chair that remains after I take most of it, the mouthpiece is near the base of my throat, and the edge of the bell is just under my nose. So, I don't think that was the original plan.

People in the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries were pretty strict about posture, etc. Was this leg-slicer intentional? Since it is a small horn, I usually hold it like I do my euphonium. Would that be the original plan?

Just curious. Ain't no thing that a pool noodle couldn't fix.

A lot of older german tubas have got something like that. We call it Kamm (comb). This ist my Weltklang/B&S Eb.

Many old horns do not have a serial number. I have owned five or six tubas that lacked them.

One of the issues of getting an instrument that is over a century old, is that it likely comes with a checkered history of "repairs." Probably long after the original owner was no longer using the horn regularly, someone performed the abomination referred to as Fig. 1. They tore off the strut that supported the leadpipe, wrapped the pipe around the bell throat, and glued it in place with a quarter pound of solder.

I recently took the tuba to a trustworthy repair technician. My first request was please fix the leadpipe: its dents, angle, and weird receiver. When he removed the solder, he found that the leadpipe had been "through it." See Fig. 2. With a new leadpipe, new receiver, other dents removed, bell repaired, etc., the tuba sounds pretty good. Imagine the difference between a leadpipe made out of smooth brass, in contrast to one largely made out of lumpy solder!

This was originally going to be my "gateway" Eb--the one that would let me decide it Eb was for me. Now, I'm thinking I'll just keep it. It has great false tones, and I can play a very serviceable chromatic scale down to Eb1. Okay, I can play lower than that, but I did say serviceable.