Musica Steyr Austria?

[DonO.]

I did some research on this marking and found it very confusing. Apparently in some years they were assembled in Austria with Cerveny made parts, other years actually made by Cerveny in Czechoslovakia, other years by a firm in Bavaria, Germany. Some years Conn seemed to involved in distribution somehow. Even Kawai was involved with the name somehow. Is there any way to tell what year a Musica tuba was made, who made it, and where it was made? My reason for asking is that there is an interesting F horn so marked on Reverb for what would seem a very reasonable price- $1500. It only has 4 rotary valves and I realize on an F that could be problematic, but still used F tubas are pretty rare birds and pretty pricey when they do come up. And yet this one has been for sale quite a while, no takers. So, please school me on what I’m missing. Why is nobody buying this?

[the elephant]

A link would be helpful…

[bort2.0]

https://reverb.com/item/38392815-musica ... ria-f-tuba

No buyers, because it's a 4 valve F tuba.

[the elephant]

[Thanks for the link.]

I agree. I would not pay $1500 for a horn that only has a false tone low Bb…

[Rick Denney]

I have owned that instrument (not that particular one, but one just like it). I found it at the Army-Navy Surplus store in San Antonio in maybe 1988, in perfect condition and priced at a thousand bucks.

For me, it was an affordable opportunity to learn F tuba, and it worked for that. The tone up high was actually pretty nice, but the low register (much below the staff) was weak, and not just because it lacked a fifth valve. It was fine for things like the first tuba part in quartet music if the arranger was friendly, but not as an orchestral F.

In early 1991, I bought a demo Yamaha 621 F at TMEA, and that instrument had everything the Musica didn’t in terms of playability. I traded the Musica and a Sanders Bb tuba for a mildly battered Miraphone 186, which I then overhauled and used for 20-odd years. The guy that took it in trade used it for learning F and then traded it and the Sanders for a VMI C tuba. We both moved up in the world.

So, as a cheapie for learning F fingerings it served its purpose, but it just wasn’t versatile enough with only four valves for application in most performing situations.

(I still have the Yamaha but usually use a six-valve B&S Symphonie from the final production batch of that model when I want to play F.)

Rick “can’t recall the measured specifics” Denney

[matt g]

The same shop that has that listed sells a brand new piston F tuba with 5 valves for $3,000. The 4 valve F is going to be there a while. It’s at a pretty decent shop.