Posted by Leland on December 18, 2003 at 20:00:35:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Karl Zeiss Tuba posted by Memories..... on December 18, 2003 at 16:51:37:
Nope, it was Nate Griffith (yup, the guy behind NP Griffith tuba & euph mutes).
Mine was one of a batch of five that he acquired from Bellevue East, just south of Omaha, NE. The worst was used for parts to refurbish the other four. The best two were taken by the time I found out (I got third pick), and he did an annealing experiment with the last one (torched the bell by hand... very soft, but a heck of a sound).
When I first "took delivery", he adjusted the leadpipe placement for his height. Since he's a half foot shorter than I am, we adjusted it a couple more times until it fit me, and it's been the same ever since (fourteen years?).
I think he's still plugging away on getting his tuba into production, too. I hope it works out -- his prototype 4/4 CC is one of the nicest tubas I've ever played. Neat thing about it is that none of the pistons' ports are distorted by their neighbors -- each one is a constant-diameter piece of tubing, and the throw is no more than other piston tubas.