FS: Conn Monster Eb


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Posted by Scott on July 25, 2001 at 21:48:35:

I bought this tuba a month ago or so off of ebay, thinking that I could fix it myself and turn it into a really good tuba. Since then I've found out that I won't have access to my school's metal working equipment (the entire art department is moving into our new fine arts center), I've decided that it's more important for me to have an F for solos and the lighter orchestral stuff, and if I'm going to start hacking at a tuba, I should hack at a tuba that is otherwise useless. This Conn most certainly isn't useless. So, the tuba goes, I need the money for the F (not to mention books next year).

It has a 19" bell, and a bottom bow that's comparable in size to the one on my Yamaha 661 CC. It's silver plated, but the bell is the only place where the silver plating is whole. It has three valves, with a bore somewhere around .700". The valves are a little leaky, but I've found them manageable when I put rotor oil on them. The bell is in wonderful condition, once you remove the tarnish you'll have a completely silver bell, with one small wrinkle that isn't visible unless you're looking for it. The bottom bow is in pretty bad shape, though. The silver is coming off, and there are several large dents, the biggest being a half to 3/4" deep and about two inches long. The first branch has several small dents, enough to give it a much flatter side. Not terribly bad, though, and they're all on the side facing you, not the audience. The leadpipe also needs repair, there's a crack in the tubing holding the tuning slide together, which is in the leadpipe. The leadpipe is pretty dented and HEAVILY soldered onto the bell.

The horn, despite its cosmetic problems, plays very, very nicely. My teacher listened to three notes and said that he already liked it better than the Miraphone 1261 Eb I had, and a trumpet player told me that the only difference between the sound of the Conn and my CC was that the Conn was quieter. The tone quality was the same. The intonation is lippable, the only major problems are the Bb above the staff (flat on every tuba I play, so it could be me) and everything below the D below the staff are hard to center and hard to tune. They were much better when I taped up the crack in the leadpipe, so I have to imagine that these notes will be usable once the leadpipe is replaced. The pedal tones are nice and open, btw. I probably wouldn't bring it into a grad school audition, but I would feel comfortable bringing it to a jazz gig.

Not sure what I'm asking for it. To be perfectly honest, I paid $450 for it, and I thought it was a bargain even before I knew it was playable. I'll listen to offers. Brasswind has a three valve Conn Eb listed for about $1300 on their website, and the description makes it look like a smaller tuba, but in better condition, FWIW. I should call Mike Russo to make sure, if he doesn't see this and respond.

Whether you're serious about buying or not, feel free to post or e-mail me with questions. I'll respond as honestly as I can. I do ask that you e-mail me privately if you have a serious offer.

Scott


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