Posted by Klaus on December 06, 2001 at 13:23:56:
In Reply to: Mahillon Instruments posted by Jay Bertolet on December 06, 2001 at 10:43:43:
Mahillon was one of the more common makes used over here during my boyhood. I remember one of our all brass military bands playing all Mahillons around 1962. The last 4 valve Mahillon euph sold in Copenhagen was bought by a former highschool mate of mine in 1968. I played a couple of band owned Mahillons in 1966 and 1967. Light and pleasant in sound, but the octave between the midstaff D (1+2) and the open 5th partial was somewhat less than an octave.
1 or 2 years ago a Belgian musicstore sold off the last new Mahillon 5 valve 3+2 C French style yuba. I went into negotiations with the store, but as I was not ready to pay the asked price, the instrument went to the West Coast of the USA. This very instrument has since been auctioned off on eBay.
Other correspondents have reported, that Mahillon is out of production since years. Even if I personnaly own 2 very usable, but very narrow bore, Mahillon valve trombone, my evaluation is, this stop of production should not be mourned too much.
Within the last few months the Contrabass list had a reference to a French retail store that sold new Courtois 5 (3+2) valve saxhorns with a bore similar to that of modern comp euphs. The interesting point was that the price level, including French VAT (and a hard case), was within the $2500 or so frame. There were two configurations of the 5th valve tubing: the standard long whole step and a perfect fifth.
Klaus