Posted by Ken Herrick on May 07, 2002 at 16:23:43:
In Reply to: Harvey Philips/Conn tubas posted by Todd Morgan on May 07, 2002 at 11:37:46:
Yes, Todd, Harvey did play Conn and in particular one CC for the bulk of his career. If you get some of the older photos his instrument looks a bit funny as it was largely wrapped in black electrical plastic tape. I forget the exact model number, (if it actually had one, as it was one of very few of its model. I did some work on it while I was studying with him at NEC in Boston in 70-71; mainly taking the tape off, a bit of minor soldering and leak repairing and re-aligning valves.
The 2J models were just in pre-production then and Harv had some prorotypes on hand and I used one a lot. ("Production" models came out in September 71 and I was to get one of the first 10: unfortunately it did not follow me to Australia thanks to a stupid local "exclusive dealer" who wanted to make money on something which was not going to cost them a cent!)
Good horn? Yes. They were not a York earth mover and some felt they would not do the job in an orchestra. Harv had no trouble producing plenty of nice, focused sound to do the job. As a solo and small ensemble instrument very nice! Keep in mind that Harv played EVERYTHING on the one instrument. He did not go switching from CC fo F or BIG CC and so on but he had the lot covered. They blow with more "resistance" than some and for some people take some getting used to but the player who is adaptable can find them a very nice tuba which can be used for everything.
An aside......... if it is still available. The Bell "daily routine" book had a shot of Bill with a King 4RV CC with recording bell as an ad for King. "There is only one William bell, but there are enough Kings to go around". There is a reflection of Harvey in the bell along with some lights. This was taken in Harveys NYC apartment.
Harv had quite a collection of old Conns including one of August Helleberg's which was gold plated. Nice little horn, rather small detachable bell on it.
I seriously thought about buying the 3J with added 5th valve which Dillons had. My guess is that somebody has a very nice instrument.