Posted by Bell Sizes on May 23, 2002 at 15:55:50:
In Reply to: More Mirafone size comparison pixx... posted by Dave on May 22, 2002 at 14:58:22:
Dave -
One thing that may explain the difference in bell sizes is that Mirafone actually made two different bells for this beast. Believe it or not, you could get a 190 with a 17.5" bell. That small size bell on a big horn may seem ludicrous now, but tubas made in the tradition of the German Kaiser tuba had long but not wide bells. I owned a 190 BBb that had the 19.5" bell, so BBb's are out with the bigger bell. Also, I never had any serious intonation problems with the horn. It was in fact better in tune than most other horns I had played.
Marty Neilan