Re: St. Petersburg 202


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Posted by Lee Stofer on October 08, 2002 at 07:32:42:

In Reply to: St. Petersburg 202 posted by Tuba Buyer on October 07, 2002 at 16:20:49:

Tuba Buyer,
A repairman/player's perspective; There are not tubas I can think of with comparable specs, since I know of no other tuba sold in the US with stop arms and stop arm bumper plates made of pewter or pot metal. The last St. Pete to visit my shop had a good aftermarket valve linkage system, and if they would replace these parts, too, they would be much more durable. I managed to repair the 2nd stop arm on the instrument. The customer balked, though, when I told him what it would cost for me to make brass or nickel-silver replicas of these parts for his horn. The nickel plating on the horn can be a blessing or a curse - it is good-looking and low maintenance, but just hope that you don't ever have to have the bottom bow removed. Also, keep those slides well-maintained, for when the nickel plating starts wearing off, you can have some interesting corrosion issues, too.
Geneva International Corporation is now importing Josef Lidl tubas, from the Czech Republic. It is an old company, well-known in the 1920's and 1930's, that disappeared into Amati during the Communist times, and now has re-emerged as an independent maker. I played the LBB-701 at ITEC, and found it to be an impressive 3/4 BBb. It is smaller than a St. Pete, with dimensions more like the smaller Conn BBb's, with plenty of bell flare. All of these instruments that I've tried has had 4 silent rotary valves w/ miniball linkage (from the factory), a nickel-silver leadpipe, slides that fit and work right, everything on the instrument quality-made. They sound good, play well, come with a wheeled-hard case and a decent mouthpiece, and are being sold for less than the price of a St. Pete. I'm considering buying one for my personal use.
Lee Stofer


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