Posted by Dale on July 20, 2001 at 11:45:05:
In Reply to: buying a "handmade" yorkbrunner posted by wanting to buy on July 19, 2001 at 17:17:59:
Those early YB's pale in comparison to the current Hirsbrunner build. The best of the current Grand Orchestral Hirsbrunners built ALWAYS get grabbed up by pros as soon as they are built, and it will probably always be this way. So...Joe's advice is good, if you want one of these York-inspired big 6/4 horns for actual playing purposes, then chase TC and show him some real cash. If you're lucky enough to buy it you will get a GREAT horn, FAR better than ANY of the early YB's.
If you want a "handmade" as a "collectable", find out who bought Paul K's old horn, it was a fine tuba but nothing like the ones now. Be prepared to spend 12-14 large for that horn, I'd expect substantially more for the one TC's selling.
f.w.i.w. and i.m.h.o. the Jacobs-model Holtons (orig, factory CC) were uniformly way better horns than the early YB's. I'm curious, with all the outstanding new large orchestral tubas out there, and given that most of the evolutionary big horns were uniformly better than the early YBs, why in the world do you want one of those so-called "handmades"?