Posted by Lee Stofer on February 25, 2002 at 09:29:06:
In Reply to: Best Instruments on ebay posted by Tony on February 25, 2002 at 00:46:15:
One of my band director customers brought me one of the Chinese/Indian euphoniums he had bought at the auction site. The instrument was unlacquered, the three top-piston instrument had no water keys, not even on the main tuning slide in the leadpipe. The design, including the unplated, solid nickel-silver mouthpiece, was like that of a baritone of the 1880's. Ditto for the case. I added water keys to the main, 1st and 3rd slides. The valves were really bad, but at least they were too tight, not too loose. When I went to unscrew the valve guides so I could lap in the valves, I found that they just sheared off- they had no threads, but had been soldered in. I then drilled and tapped, and made a set of proper valve guides for the horn after I had lapped the pistons. After a good cleanup, the instrument had been rendered playable, and didn't do too badly, except for the Eb and E above the staff, which are quite sharp. The repairs cost the band director over twice what the initial purchase price was, and the end result is like a second-rate instrument of the 1880's. I would not recommend them to anyone.
-Lee Stofer