Posted by Bryan on February 26, 2001 at 19:05:26:
In Reply to: getting prepared to buy 6/4 posted by Tim on February 26, 2001 at 08:24:18:
Some interesting tidbits:
1) Both horns are based on the same original York. The man who played this horn for 50+ years tried both of these horns in his lifetime. His comments on the Nirschl was something to the effect, "there's just something not quite right about this horn." (This is from a VERY reliable source.)
2) The man who has probably played the original York the second most overall, Gene Pokorny, owns a Yorkbrunner as his "backup".
3) More top level pros play the Yorkbrunner than the Nirschl. David Fedderly, Mike Sanders, Gene Pokorny, etc. all prefer it. Floyd Cooley and Warren Deck (among others of course) prefer the Nirschl.
4) Neither are what I would call readily available. I was seriously interested in a large horn about a year ago and couldn't find either one available to try. On a trip to Europe last summer, I went to both Sumiswald and Gerestried and NEITHER place had a horn in the factory at that time to try. I also went to the Meinl factory and they didn't have a 2165 in stock either! I couldn't find a 6/4 tuba in Europe to save my life!! This says to me that both horns are obviously in huge demand and their loyal owners will probably swear by theirs as the better of the two.
Good luck getting to try either, much less at the same time.
Bryan "No informed opinion, just keeping score" McElhaney