Posted by Rick Denney on February 24, 2004 at 18:09:46:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Ebay Tuba - That bad? posted by Garrett on February 24, 2004 at 12:28:28:
I'm sorry, you misunderstood me. Custom Music Company has been stenciling the Sanders label on tubas for at least 20 years--I bought one in 1985 that was a Cerveny.
And I know that the instruments they listed as Sanders models in a catalog I collected during a visit to their shop perhaps three years ago were made in Asia. I have never played one, but I'm sure it is at least minimally competent. In that catalog, some of the Sanders models were still Cervenys and some were Asian (it could have been "Sanders Imperial" for the Asian models, but that's a fuzzy memory).
When you say "Miraphone copy", most people take that to mean that is is laid out fairly similarly to a Miraphone, with a sideways main tuning slide and a fourth valve slide behind the third-valve slide. That description applies to mane 4/4 rotary tubas that have been made over the years. But your statement suggests it is intended to be an exact copy. How close a copy is it? Have you made measurements?
I'm sure your instrument is a good instrument. But we have seen many reports of Chinese tubas that were unplayable and mechanically unusable. It is prudent to consider all the possibilities for an instrument being bought sight unseen by a newly returning player seeking his only instrument, rather than an experimental curiosity.
Rick "not relying on general knowledge concerning Sanders stencils" Denney