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As I was salvaging a dogleg off of a Chicago-era HOLTON monster E flat today, I came across this:
Discuss.

Discuss the presence of a shop number (my made-up phrase), or the fact that it was either #5 and #1 at different times... Or a really crappy job of stamping #51? Or someone mathy who wanted 5 to the 1st power.

What is the serial number of the Holton from which you pulled this part?

My rotary Willson 3050 had the last two digits of the serial number (22) stamped on EVERYTHING. Inside slide tubes. Every little piece of the rotary valves and linkages. Everywhere. Not the ferrules, from what I could see, but I kinda wouldnt be surprised if they were stamped somewhere. It was very much evident of it being a one-off horn where everything had to stay with that one particular instrument.

bort2.0 wrote:What is the serial number of the Holton from which you pulled this part?

Not sure, but the similar York monster E flat’s catalog number is 51.

I’ve frequently seen York model numbers stamped on the part of a branch that is obscured by the connecting ferrules.

My thought is that this confirms something I’ve suspected for quite a few years now.

Off an actual York model 51:

Area 51?

Yorks and Holtons were actually made by aliens using other worldly technology/techniques!

York-aholic wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 12:09 am Area 51?

Yorks and Holtons were actually made by aliens using other worldly technology/techniques!

I wrote something similar, then deleted it. forking aliens made me do -- or not do -- it.

It's the tooba playa's part: V-I, V-I, etc. ad nauseum. In case he forgets.

For me, it's a tie between Area 51 and 5 to the 1st power.

Yorkboy wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 8:08 pm As I was salvaging a dogleg off of a Chicago-era HOLTON monster E flat today, I came across this:

D5A1B6F5-36B8-474A-ABB9-173F9AB618A6.jpeg

Discuss.

York parts I have are stamped like that.

I believe the point is that there has always been a theory that some York and Holton tuba body parts were made in one-or-the-other of those factories, and engraved with one-or-the-other brand name on them...and no, their valvesets are certainly not the same.

The evidence (shown above) strengthens the theory, in my view.

Having just "built" a (Holton-engraved) B-flat (body parts made in the mid-1960's, and marketed - at that time - as a "student" model...and with a Holton serial number that post-dates the reported shuttering date of the Grand Rapids York plant...this further evidence (as my Holton bell and bows are just about absolutely "York-like" hints (??) than Holton (ie. "last man standing") made (at least) the 19" bell instruments' body parts. Additionally, the "Phillips" model tubas (fabricated just before Holton itself was shuttered) featured the very same bell and bows (other than the fact that they trimmed the bell diameter down an inch-or-so smaller).

"York brass"
appears to me (and I've never seen anything else - in all of the York tubas I've straightened out) to be a non-exotic alloy of yellow brass.
To build tubas of bronze - and claim that their metal is "York brass" - seems to me to be so much malarkey.
Stories about "Pop" beating on big pieces of sheet brass to decide whether they were worthy of making a tuba...seem somewhat dubious to me, and somewhat along the same lines and same category as the "Jake only had one lung" types of stories.

"Getzen York-like tubas"
Based on what looks like what (and the fact that the Holton and Getzen factories were in the very same small town) - and the fact that King pistons fit them perfectly - still cause me to cling to my theory that those tubas bodies were made by Holton, and their valvesets were made (albeit "plain-jane" trim) by King...regardless of how adamant some may be that my theories - here - are completely wrong.

UncleBeer wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 4:20 pm It's the tooba playa's part: V-I, V-I, etc. ad nauseum. In case he forgets.

The authentic answer, but due to the numbers being offset, imperfect.