1971 Mirafone 186-5U CC — $6500

[the elephant]

The first $6500 in cash takes it. I'm just sick about having to sell this tuba, but sometimes Life intervenes and things have to change.

This is a fully rebuilt instrument with five NEW rotors and a custom, larger leadpipe drawn and bent for me by Miraphone in Germany using a stock 188 tube. It plays very well. I have used it professionally as my main tuba for over six years now and love it.

• Custom factory-bent nickel silver 188 leadpipe
• Custom-built 5th valve/slide (flat whole step)
• Minibal links
• Nickel silver slide crooks
• Lightweight; easy to stand with
• Classic small-belled 186 sound
• Increased threshold for loud playing (188 leadpipe)
• Excellent slide alignment
• Excellent physical condition
• Raw brass
• Excellent condition Miraphone gig bag
• No hard case
• No shipping (Read below.)

I will meet a buyer halfway, up to about three hours from where I live, which would include Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa, Memphis (Southaven, actually), or anywhere that is closer to Jackson, Mississippi. Cash in full after you toot on it for up to an hour. (Bring your own folding chair or pop-up concert hall or whatever floats your boat.) We can meet anywhere you set up for us. Or we can meet in a parking lot off the Interstate. Again: your responsibility.

No trial periods. This is a well-documented and understood model, and my example is on the very upper end of quality/playability. You will know whether you want to purchase within a few minutes of playing it. If you love these horns then you know what I am selling here. You only need to try it out to see whether it is worth my asking price — to YOU. (No one else matters in this equation, including ME.) Again, it is in excellent condition, especially considering that it is 53 years old!

I will be available much of this week, and again after Christmas (up through January 12), and then I am very busy again, so a meeting will be more difficult to schedule.

PM me if interested.

What it looks like normally…


What it looks like after a long session of hand-polishing with Simichrome… (This bag is not a part of this sale.) NOTE: This was taken before the current 5th lever and the nickel silver slide crooks had been installed.




Nickel silver crooks and leadpipe…




Sexy baby… These last two were taken before I changed out the slide crooks for nickel silver ones.




Even US Senator Blutarsky loves this tuba!

[jtuba]

@the elephant

Did you shorten the fifth valve circuit? Looks great!

[the elephant]

Shorten it? No, I built it and added it to a 186-4U. This left the factory with four valves. It was old and played very well, but only had four valves, and that really depresses the resale value.

The valve was only available with the plain front (no nice engraving) and it bugged me that it would not match. S I bought the special 6th valve and decided to go ahead and install all new valves so that 1.) they all match, and 2.) they all have brand new bearing surfaces. This cost a lot and took a lot of time and care, as to remove the old valves you must fully disassemble the valve section — unless you have a much larger torch head than I own.

I also fully disassembled the bugle and "slicked it out" ($1 to bloke) on my Ferree's Z-60 "Dent Machine". I did all the inner and outer branches, as well as the bell (except for the last three or four inches of the flare so as to avoid messing up the original garland's engraving and nice shape). I replaced about half the horn with new stuff so it should last for another fifty years easily — it is nearly new, mechanically.

But back to your question, no, it never had the traditional flat major third 5th valve. When I added the 5th I nearly did this, but decided to make it match all my other CC tubas with a flat whole step. Much of the nickel silver is new. Most of the brass is factory. So all the sound-making bits are old, and the decorative bits are new, as my wife would point out.

[arpthark]

Looks like in some pics it has a thumb ring and in others it's been removed -- is it currently off the horn?

Were I a few thousand miles closer I'd be very interested in this. Hope it sells quickly!

[the elephant]

In some of the photos it is also largely disassembled, but it is fully assembled now.

I did the work in stages and changed things on occasion over time. The last photo with "Bluto" is the most recent pic of the horn. I added the thumb ring, then switched the modern bar-style 5th lever to the more traditional platen-style. All the slide crooks are nickel silver, as is the leadpipe.

There are no strap hooks.
There is no lyre socket.
Because I hate them. ;-)

I believe I still have them, though, and I would be willing to toss them into a bag for a buyer who wanted them.

[bort2.0]

Sweet Sassy Molassey! That's a great looking tuba, and I wouldn't spend another second ever trying to polish it.

Hrmm... 186 with a 188 leadpipe? That's a combo that I haven't heard of before. Does it make the tuba more 188-ish at all? Or rather, does it accept a bit more (fast) air before breaking up?

This one won't be mine... but wow, that is beautiful.

PS -- is that bar-style fifth valve lever the one that I sold to you a million years ago? If so, I bought that to put on my old 188, but I sold the 188 before I ever got around to it... but I really like the bar style lever, myself.

[the elephant]

Yes! I bought it from you years ago. I swapped it to my cut-to-CC 186 for this old-style one. I prefer the bar, now that I've had both to mess with for years.

Yes, the 188 leadpipe gives more overhead to the horn's loud end. I can blow the snot out of this horn in the orchestra.

[the elephant]

Just to echo Wade’s comment. You’ll know a good 186 of that vintage after playing a scale. It won’t take long to figure out if you like it.

[bloke]

well worth the price.

With my B-flats, I'm using 6/4 vs. 4/4 about 60-40 or maybe 50-50 (not a statistician). I'm afraid you'll miss it when it's gone...unless you still have the other one...but isn't this the better one?

re: 3:51 A.M. posting (woke up itching...prolly all of these meds, grateful to be feeling better overall)...

[the elephant]

Bump…

[the elephant]

I know some of you have $6500 you want to hand me for this sweet, old 186.

• FIVE NEW COMPLETE VALVE UNITS! That means brand-new bearings that will withstand another half-century of daily use.

• Nickel silver leadpipe and slide crooks!

• Minibal links!

• IMHO better than an AI robot "companion" because this can earn you lots of filthy lucre in just about any musical setting, whereas that silly AI bot "girlfriend" can only repeatedly ask you what your favorite color is and perhaps talk dirty to you. (Ah, technology…)

GIVE ME YOUR DIRTY MONEY! BAHAHAHA!!!

[the elephant]

Willing to drive up to three hours to meet with a buyer. You will have to bring a chair and test it in the parking lot where we meet, but you will be able to tell you want it within a few minutes; it's one of the good ones.

Possible meeting places would be…
Jackson, MS (you can test the horn indoors)
Shreveport, LA
Baton Rouge, LA
Southaven, MS (like Memphis, only safer)
Tuscaloosa, AL (maybe)
Little Rock, AR (maybe)

Or just about anywhere within that circle.

[the elephant]

Okay, I'll come down on my price.

$6,499.98

THIS IS A VERY FINE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. However, I desperately need a new roof on my house, and I can't get a new one and keep this tuba.

BUY IT, ALREADY!



BUMPAROONIE!

[the elephant]

When I made this video, I was warming up before an early morning gig. I was testing out some alternates and did not use the first slide much (if at all) or any weird alternates. I think I used 12 E and 13 D in the staff, which I ended up dropping in lieu of 0 and 1. No smoke. No mirrors.

This is a commonly played Blazhevich from my book The Dozens, which I have linked in another thread in case you want to follow along.

This tuba, this excellent, splendiferous example of tubalicious musical studliness, can be yours if you have the required filthy lucre.

PM me to set up a meet.

Use headphones.

Or AirPods, if you're one of the cool kids…

[arpthark]

Sounds great! You get such a nice sound on that horn.

Were I a few thousand miles closer, yadda yadda. I hope someone buys it soon so I don’t have to start looking up bus fare to Mississippi.

[shovelingtom]

I rode the City of New Orleans between NOLA and Chicago once. It was great and the $79 fare was cheaper than driving vehicle I had at that time. Pretty sure it stops in Yazoo…. Just gotta get another train from New England to Chicago.

If there were plans to visit my mom in Grenada anytime soon I’d for sure be scratching pennies and driving down to meet Wade.

[the elephant]

The train station is less than a mile from my front door and I can see the trains as they thunder past.