Global Moderators

@administrator The item was sold before I could look at the ad; but IF I saw the right picture, it would be a straightforward rotary tenor horn. Wagner tubas have their valves oriented left-handed.

This thread is a place for oddities and unknowns. Let's start with this. Wagner tuba, maybe?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326442597481?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20231107084023%26meid%3D313736a5b5594a1993da64e0385f8d20%26pid%3D101875%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D306153011906%26itm%3D326442597481%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2332490%26algv%3DSimVIDwebV3WithCPCExpansionEmbeddingSearchQuerySemanticBroadMatchSingularityRecall&_trksid=p2332490.c101875.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A326442597481313736a5b5594a1993da64e0385f8d20|enc%3AAQAKAAABMOqalcCsb07ituDYLOrUrH2eG1DBUcAU1siB%252B881ennut1KqikNJ--C2JmJJYbnGBSq9s1cAaLR3u1P2GFHP6cOkMtiQrPwhnArZTi0NFnCkYNs9wPMPnRY0lLYAH0ZUZMPtZ0GCgtnoK3uWS1%252Fmx5jZ1p9V4CsbwhPUvOa2zarTCvy2j%252B4SgpUIszuL8DedK8pca5bZIzgUZxgwkvo8OjWBythbCxkLQjqAexNWRLF6AnSBrdBwOvEVJ2MLcWoUrx3KeHN0r2r%252Fwyb9oLKJ%252BAHyX2bCbrlTmBz%252FzUZA%252FJu9bb0zyLE3MY8uRCxyqsHZDAVuLrq%252F0D1cOEnLWkejgvQWu1th0Y6kpPukdt21ngCtg8q40qZFVTuqxyz5nQN5DV%252F2l0kaY6WfK41bOOkfAd8%253D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2332490&itmmeta=01JNSFNNRQDN56NT84CSMQXV62

It's beautiful, I hope you find success.

What a great documentary! Thanks for posting!

@Bb-Brass Arnold & Sons are also good clones of good Bach pieces... and they ave the additional advantage that they are readily available in Europe (whereas Blessings aren't).

PSA: If anybody is using WD-40, or any other kind of penetrating oil on their trumpet....STOP!!!

Please, clean your trumpet thoroughly with dish soap or simple green. Never, ever use these kinds of chemicals on a trumpet. There are more than enough chemicals designed to be used with brass instruments. Not only do these chemicals do weird things to the brass and valves, but they can seriously impact your health.

Do you use proper valve oil, and not a creeping oil like WD-40?

Could this be related to bottom-sprung valves?

Strange instruments seem to find me... my first trombone was inherited from a friend who departed this life some twenty years ago. Fifteen years later, his daughter called me and was rather embarrassed... they had only now for th first time since his demise, opened up her father's music room and inspected the contents... and his #1 trombone, a 609 B&H Sovereign, bore a hand-written label that it was to go to me... this horn...

First thing I did was to visit my friend's grave and play Amazing Grace... and then happened onto a newly-formed big band with lots of trumpets and no trombones...
A couple of years later I was in a Vienna antiques store looking for a comfy seat with ears when I noticed a trombone hanging from the ceiling. Asked the seller "how much" and got a gruff answer, "two hundred". Replied, "here's a hundred - ok?" - "ok". It's a 1940s Willi Garreis tenor with valve, originally built of a member of the Munich Philharmonic, with a "long water key" feature... quite nice, all original and still in quite good shape. Came with a 12C generic trumpet mouthpiece...

And a couple of years back, found a Besson International baritone horn on e-bay for a whopping € 65..., got it, played it in a couple of brass band gigs
and then thought something might be wrong with the horn... brought it to Ivan Hunter who diagnosed that the horn had at some time suffered a catastrophic accident, been dismantled and somehow reassembled wrong way round... too costly to repair back to original condition, so he got it to convert into art...
and then, on e-bay again, found a Weltklang euphonium "for collection". Went to England for it (had some other things to do there anyway) and heard a remarkable story... the euph was owned by a long-time brass bander who had been given an ultimatum by his wife to either lose the horn or lose the wife. Chose wrong, the poor fellow... and his wife insisted that she should get the use of any money he would make out of the sale, so he gave it away for free...

The only other things I can think of are if the felts are the same diameter as the piston or the center hole is too big they may be contacting the wall of the cylinder and picking up the oil. I have never experienced oily felts on any horn. Regards, Stuart