Posted by Scott Norberg on June 21, 2003 at 22:59:26:
In Reply to: Re: Hirsbrunner euphonium for sale posted by roy austin on June 21, 2003 at 20:40:03:
As for the comparison, I'd say that the Willson is darker and the 2900 is a little bit more agile than the Hirsbrunner. However, the Hirsbrunner has a more flexible tone color (i.e. to my ear, a Willson will always sound like a Willson, but the Hirsbrunner will sound how I want it to) and a much better low range. The Hirsbrunner is more flexible than the Besson, has better intonation, more flexible tone color, better intonation and a much better low register. (No, I'm not a big fan of Besson Sovereigns.) I will say that this Hirsbrunner (I don't know about Hirsbrunners in general) isn't an instrument that plays well off the shelf. When I first played it it played small and bright, but after a while I found I could get it to open up and play with whatever tone color I wanted.
I don't know the age, but it's in fairly good condition. There's one ding in the bell (along with a few ripples from a repaired bell crease, my in-laws didn't see them but my eyes have been trained to see stuff like that so I can) but that's about it. There are scratches in the plating where the previous owner had held the instrument next to the medals on his uniform (he was in the military) but that's about it.
I'll email you directly about the price.
Scott