Posted by Urbie Watrous on July 26, 2001 at 01:16:09:
In Reply to: Re: Wurlitzer E-flat tuba -- comments? posted by Dave Siegfried on July 26, 2001 at 00:22:44:
Dave,
Thanks for your reply. As it turns out, I went back to the store this afternoon, mouthpiece in hand, and gave the EEb a serious workout for about 15-20 minutes. The store owner approached me as I exited the practice room (I was close to buying, but at $500, was a little unsure about it). He observed my indecision and asked, "What would it take to make you want to take the horn home?" I hemmed and hawed, and finally blurted out, "$400?" "Sold!," was his reply.
So I've got the horn. It's got a nice sound and seems quite playable in all registers (low is going to take a little getting used to, but it's not bad).
How big a deal is the valve-replating job? This horn is in basically good shape, but the plating on the valves shows some wear -- the valves don't leak appreciably, but I can't state for sure that they don't leak at all, and I may want to have some work done on them at some point.
Where is the serial number on your horn, by the way? I haven't been able to find it on this one. FWIW, the horn says Chicago on the nameplate.
Urb