Posted by Steve Inman on August 04, 2001 at 17:04:55:
It's official. I just purchased Lee Stofer's 20-year old Amati F tuba (Thanks, Lee), which is virtually identical to the CFB-654-6 that Matt Walters can sell you at an attractive price. Mine has clock springs for 4 of the valves, however. (BTW, Lee is making good progress on his new shop. I don't know his exact timetable, but he should soon be able to build/rebuild/repair/tweak/modify any instruments folks in/around Atlanta would want to bring in. It looks like he's currently splitting his time between instrument repair and shop construction, from what I could see . . . .)
I'd have to concur with what Matt Walters told me regarding his 5V Cerveny Fs (which he would be happy to sell you at a fantastic price, BTW). After playing virtually every F tuba Brasswind had in stock last February, my opinion is that the Cerveny (Amati) F has the best mid/low range of any of the rotary Fs (the normal "weenie range" from about low D down to low Bb, just below the staff). It takes a little concentration and modification of embouchure to play the Db and CC, but not much. So it's not identical to the YFB-621, but as close as you'll find in a rotary F. The nice thing about the 6V version is that the 5th valve is a 7-semitone "quint" valve, with much larger bore. [valves 1-4,6 are about .715 and 5 is about .820!] 5th valve is right hand thumb operated, and 6th valve is left hand operated and a flat HALF step. Due to the quint valve, the low BBb is very secure on this tuba.
The bell on this horn is a little over 14", so it's a small-ish F. It's clearly scaled down from my Besson 983 in bell, throat, bottom and top bows, etc. (If I can borrow a digital camera again, I'll post a photo somewhere.) It should be perfect for my desired use, covering euph/2nd 'bone parts in a quartet. It would also make a great solo horn if I would practice enough to solo in public. I doubt it would keep up with the larger rotary Fs on the market, however. (At least not with me playing it!)
Steve "and it's got that 'Great German Sound'" Inman
Kokomo, IN