Posted by Dan Clouse on July 05, 2002 at 10:20:02:
I am (and have been for several years) in posession of a miraphone 188 CC 5 valve tuba. I bought it because it was the horn that "spoke" to me. I went through the typical phases of youth/learning where I ;
1.) blamed the instrument for my inadequacies
2.) thanked the instrument for it's kind nature when I screwed up
3.) put the horn down for too long to chase women
I hadn't given a lot of thought to my horn, though I've never seen another Mira 188 CC to compare it with. However, a couple weeks ago, a noted instructor and player borrowed my horn for a few days to run a workshop and play on some recitals. After the end of the time he gave me his appraisal of my horn and pointed out some very strange things about the construction. He noticed that there were parts that didn't look like miraphon parts, and the horn played like someone had sat with it for a long time at the workbench ironing out all the little quirks. (I've never met another horn that plays so friendly) The more I look around, the more I notice that my Miraphone doesn't look like it's made out of miraphone parts. I bought it at the Brasswind, so I'm the orignal owner, with no special connections to the tubameisters at miraphone to get custom mods or prototypes...
I guess my question is, who else plays a 188 CC out there? Does yours look like standard parts from a miraphone? How can I dig up more info on my horn specifically? Anyone in the cincinnati area want to get together to swap war stories about horns over a beer? ;)
Dan Clouse