York Tuba, sister horn to “the” York

[TheHatTuba]

You can see the ones from the ad, right?

As it was:

[UncleBeer]

No; only the GDrive pic in the original post.

[TheHatTuba]

[LargeTuba]

Looks super cool. Is the 5th valve modern?

[TheHatTuba]

5th valve and other modifications were done by Mike Johnson.

[matt g]

Ignoring the silver loss. I like how it looked before the mods better. Had a really tidy look with the valves basically centered in the bugle and equal-ish slide lengths above and below. Curtis one is similarly handsome.

Agreed that the original layout looks better. I mentioned before that they reconfigured the bottom slide on the first valve loop for the access to the rotor and it’s clever. I wonder if Mike Johnson had seen that if he would’ve recreated that setup? It wouldn’t be that hard to extend the tubing to a flat whole step in an aesthetic way.

Another benefit to the original design is that the center of mass should be a bit lower, making this sit in the lap a bit better.

One thing I wonder: Has the PT-606 been a popular tuba? Seems to be shadowed by other stuff in the lineup.

[arpthark]

Ignoring the silver loss. I like how it looked before the mods better. Had a really tidy look with the valves basically centered in the bugle and equal-ish slide lengths above and below. Curtis one is similarly handsome.

Agreed that the original layout looks better. I mentioned before that they reconfigured the bottom slide on the first valve loop for the access to the rotor and it’s clever. I wonder if Mike Johnson had seen that if he would’ve recreated that setup? It wouldn’t be that hard to extend the tubing to a flat whole step in an aesthetic way.

Another benefit to the original design is that the center of mass should be a bit lower, making this sit in the lap a bit better.

One thing I wonder: Has the PT-606 been a popular tuba? Seems to be shadowed by other stuff in the lineup.

When I got my PT-20p in... 2007? it was already being overshadowed by the 606p in the CMC advertising. And now it's even more outdated. Dang.

I think the Ursus (nice thread by Matt Walters on old site: http://forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68987) and to a lesser extent the 3450 have filled the PT606p's place in the B&S/MW lineup.

[TheHatTuba]

The couple of PT-606Ps that I tried sounded like a PT with the pitch I imagine the York has.

[Yorkboy]

Very interesting instrument - looks like CC to me.

Anybody with knowledge of this horn know the bell diameter?

The 5th looks like a true “change” valve, like found in a Bb/A cornet (“set it and forget it”). The lack of a thumb-activated linkage points to that theory. That would also be evidence to put the horn in CC.

I seem to recall some lore about the “Chicago” York tubas that that was the intended use of the 5th valve. This might be evidence to that theory.

Also that 3rd valve wrap is unlike any of the other 692s that I’ve seen; they are usually “open wrap”, like on the 712 in BBb. I’m going to guess that this is a later version of the model. The serial number would tell the tale.

[bloke]

If there are pictures - and someone's a member at the old place, they can email them to me, I'll web host them, and stick them up here. My email can be found in the post where I've chosen to post my signature, I'll post it here.

[TheHatTuba]

Anything in particular? The horn I posted had a 19" upright, which was supposedly worse than the recording bell for a number of reasons.

There's a very similar/identical York on Mr. Denney's website: https://www.rickdenney.com/york.htm

[Yorkboy]

I’m thinking of the bell on the horn from the original posting.

[jtuba]

As heard on the Chicago Symphony's 1968 Rite of Spring recording. It looks as if the valves have been redone. Dropping them off at the shop for reconditioning to restore them to former glory!

20231212_110832.jpg (195.06 KiB) Viewed 1636 times

[LargeTuba]

As heard on the Chicago Symphony's 1968 Rite of Spring recording. It looks as if the valves have been redone. Dropping them off at the shop for reconditioning to restore them to former glory!

20231212_110832.jpg

Did you end up with the horn? How does it play?

[jtuba]

As heard on the Chicago Symphony's 1968 Rite of Spring recording. It looks as if the valves have been redone. Dropping them off at the shop for reconditioning to restore them to former glory!

20231212_110832.jpg

Did you end up with the horn? How does it play?

No, different guy in town picked it up. I was a courier, already on my own a repair trip. Plays good now, heirloom sound. Looking forward to trying it after it gets dialed in

[bloke]

@UncleBeer

You're obviously not quite enough of an ultra right wing hatemonger, and you probably think and say too many things that are actually so.

[York-aholic]

Pulling another thread back out of the cellar:

Seeing this old York CC reminded me of this video of a Mr. Rogers show, where Harold McDonald (Pittsburgh Symphony) plays part of Die Meistersinger. His was made in 1937 and was the one pictured on @Rick Denney’s website and then was owned by @Robert Tucci and Mike Johnson.

It is interesting to see the effect of time on the Satin silver finish from the time of the Mr. Rogers show (1968, horn was 31 years old then) until the picture taken (unknown to me) that is on Rick Denny’s website, where it is smooth, bright silver. The Mr. Roger’s camera really picks up the difference between the polished bell collar and interior of the bell compared with the satin silver of the bugle exterior.

I guess the obvious parallel would be to the 6/4 York CC Mr. Donateli was pictured with in satin silver and all those years later is smooth, bright silver. The McDonald 4/4 CC York was only built about 4 years after the CSO York’s.

Video. —> https://www.misterrogers.org/episodes/musical-bottles/ <— skip forward until there are 21 minutes remaining.

That 4/4 CC looks to be in pretty good shape for being 31 years old at that point but I notice Mr. McDonald keeps messing with something on it (4th valve top cap perhaps?).