Posted by Dale on August 15, 1999 at 23:28:07:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 6/4 Holton mandrels posted by Mike Sanders on August 15, 1999 at 21:37:18:
Here's the history of the Holton I just got last month, as related by the seller (the original owner.) This is of interest because it further underlines what Mr. Sanders stated, that the 2165 is patterned after the Holtons which were patterned after the CSO York : Mr. Jacobs had ordered a bell-front tuba from Holton in 1972. His idea was that the recording venue at that time was unfavorable to him and that the engineers were only placing one mic for the low brass, in front of the trombones. When he went to pick up the horn, it was a standard design. During a lesson with Alex, Jake was fuming and mumbling all through the lesson. When asked what was wrong, Mr. Jacobs related that he was stuck with a horn which didn't fit his order. Alex gallantly offered to take it off his hands, and Jacobs brightened up considerably, offering the horn for his cost. Ready? $1200.00. (note...this is 1972 dollars!)
In 1990 Don Little used this Holton in the Berlin Radio Symphony for a year (he had accidently sold his Holton.) Don played my Holton in the Berlin Radio Symphony numerous
times and on one recording, I am told. Alex Cauthen taught at North Texas while Little was on sabbatical. Gerhard Meinl (Meinl-Weston, B & S, VMI) did a cosmetic overhaul while the horn was in Europe, in return, they used it as the template for the prototype 2165 model. Mind you, a LOT of changes have gone into the 2165's since then, but I think Mr. Sanders' assessment of the current 2165 is a fair one.
What I can't get over is how the two 2165's Mr. Deck is selling have been just sitting in Scott Mendoker's studio without getting scooped up, goodness knows how much attention they must have gotten. A last thought on the idea of yet another manufacturer jumping onto the grand orchestral bandwagon. Like Tony pointed out, start-up costs for manufacture would be really really prohibitive. I went for this nice old horn for 2 reasons ...cost was one, the other was because the only other used tuba on the market like it in the past year (Yorkbrunner) was snapped up by a pro tubist who wanted a second Yorkbrunner as a backup!