Posted by Klaus on June 16, 2002 at 08:52:14:
In Reply to: Re: Cerveny CBB 6864MR or Amati posted by Gary Swart on June 16, 2002 at 07:50:28:
If there is a difference in quality between Cerveny and Amati, then mostly because the Cerveny brand has been allocated to rotary instruments and the Amati brand to instruments with very poor piston valves (the Amati piston situation may have changed for the better within recent years, especially in the trumpet area).
While the Cerveny/Amati conglomerate was state owned, brands were allocated more randomly.
I once found an Amati Tenorhorn in a local band. That instrument clearly was out of the Cerveny rotary line.
When I in 1993 played in a band competition in the south-western part of Poland, the huge band of the military conservatory/cadet school in Gdansk also took part. They had a tuba-line with one pre-war Alexander BBb and four smaller Amati rotary F's. Again the latters were clearly Cerveny designs.
The repairmen, that I know, clearly dislike to work on Cervenys to put it mildly. Poor materials, sloppy workmanship.
If Cervenys have one factor speaking for them, then that some of them sound pretty well, when played with their generic tiny mouthpieces. Still I am surpriced, that they are in a so widespread use in the US, that they frequently pop up as a theme on this board.
Klaus