Re: ARE THESE THE SAME?


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 24, 2002 at 16:31:57:

In Reply to: ARE THESE THE SAME? posted by Eric on July 24, 2002 at 14:17:08:

The Holton I pictured was a conversion from a BBb tuba made by Joe Sellmansberger at Mid-South Music. He takes on these projects in search of the perfect horn for himself, and when he does not achieve perfection, he sells it. So far, he's sold all his CC conversions, heh, heh. They are good instruments, but they have all the quirks associated with 6/4 instruments of old, including a fair sprinkling of intonation difficulties. Though he does not always achieve his standard of perfection, he does always produce truly beautiful work, and it was the beauty of the instrument that inspired me to explore what it took.

It takes a lot, as I found out.

Joe took some inspiration in key details from Jacobs's Holton, including the positioning of the fifth valve and the shape and routing of the leadpipe. This may be enough to explain the similarity, and they certainly do look similar. The third-valve wrap is quite different, however.

As Gus said, Jacobs played a very large York tuba which Holton copied more or less. Others have copied those Yorks as well, of course. But Jacobs was sponsored by Holton during the 50's along with the CSO Brass Quintet, and it is not unreasonable to wonder if the instrument was actually a Holton.

I have two other Holtons pictured on my site, along with a gallery of interesting current models compared with my own tuba. The link is below.

Rick "who thinks Joe is too picky when it comes to CC tubas" Denney



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