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In Italy, although they offer international shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354139599989

(drool)

Closer to a 163 or 164? If anyone can tell? I might be interested in this. Anyone see any red flags about horn or the ad? Might be blasphemy, but 5th valve addition? I mean, I assume there’s no way to ship that here for 31 euros, which makes me question every else about the add.

MikeMason wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:49 pm Closer to a 163 or 164? If anyone can tell? I might be interested in this. Anyone see any red flags about horn or the ad? Might be blasphemy, but 5th valve addition?

Barely any feedback for the seller, but around since 2017.

Best bet -- initiate a conversation, and try to ask specifics that only the seller would know the answers to.

In terms of getting scammed I've had really good luck with eBay stepping in to resolve things. All the high selling fees in full effect!

Shipping is always a nail biter, even in the US.

The tuba itself looks very nice. Get some measurements -- it looks less Kaiser than the 164, which is a truly large horn. Get a bore measurement, too. Get details about the overhaul. Don't add a 5th valve, unless you also want to change the leadpipe -- i.e., make it undo-able.

Were I an Alex fan, I'd probably fly there (rt c. $500) to buy it and pay the oversize luggage penalty and duty on the return flight. (grand total $1000 plus ground transportation and incidentals...?? less...??)
Of course, I'd also have to be ready to walk away - or risk that they didn't hold it (per some agreement) and went ahead and sold it domestically or to someone in their own continent.
Moreover, I'd probably just settle for looking at the REALLY PRETTY pictures (cost: $00.00)
Were I to buy some really old re-lacquered Alex from a (to me) "red flag" country - and only from pictures - though, it would only be a B-flat (not an F nor a C) that I might consider purchasing under such conditions.

EDIT: And it's gone.

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So, I bought it after reading all the layers of protection eBay,PayPal, and my credit card offers. It seemed like all was well. Now the listings gone and it says “out of stock”. I assume that means the seller came to his senses and realized his price and/or shipping fees were too low. Anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences to share? Other than leave him negative feedback, I don’t guess there’s anything I can do. Maybe I’m misinterpreting, but I think I’m right. I guess I’m still looking for a b flat.

MikeMason wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 3:41 pm So, I bought it after reading all the layers of protection eBay,PayPal, and my credit card offers. It seemed like all was well. Now the listings gone and it says “out of stock”.

If you bought it, and eBay thinks the sale was successful (i.e. you received a purchase confirmation), that's why it's out of stock. You should receive a notice from the eBay and/or the seller about shipping.

If you didn't buy it, then yeah, keep looking.

Do they normally remove access to the listing so quickly? Pics, etc all gone. I think if he really tries to ship to me, he will probably be looking at 10-20 times the 31 euro shipping estimate . I guess we’ll see. Always wanted to spend some time with an alex b flat. Yes, I did receive confirmation and my card has been charged.

MikeMason wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 4:06 pm Do they normally remove access to the listing so quickly? Pics, etc all gone. I think if he really tries to ship to me, he will probably be looking at 10-20 times the 31 euro shipping estimate . I guess we’ll see. Always wanted to spend some time with an alex b flat. Yes, I did receive confirmation and my card has been charged.

I've never seen a listing look like that after a sale.

Hope it works out, you'll have to let us know what happens next!

In the interest of maybe learning something in the process, anyone ever heard of an Alexander imperial? Could that just be a translation error from Kaiser? The rest of the English in the ad seemed pretty good. I read some fine print that said if an item was not as represented, you could return for a full refund including return shipping . Well, he said everything works “as new”. Well if that’s true, the instrument is worth closer to 5-6000. If not true, I can send back at no charge to myself. Seems like no lose except hassle and maybe tying up some space on a card waiting on refund. Anyone know if the Alexander workshop does referbs of their old horns? I would expect it to be very well done if so. Would also expect the referb to cost about as much has his price for the horn.

Listings shouldn't disappear after a sale. I've bought a lot of stuff on eBay and have never seen that happen. Reach out to eBay support ASAP.

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Started a chat inquiry. Rep seems confident that seller is legitimate. They will try to contact and keep me informed. Full refund if it doesn’t work out to my satisfaction. I’ll wait a few days and see. Worth a little patience if legit.

If you end up with it, it rocks, and it's as solid as a rock, you're going to HAVE TO bring it up here for show-and-tell.

I'd be really interested in playing it for few minutes, and you might enjoy tooting on FatBastard.

You probably just want to leave it alone, but if you get it, like it, keep it, and get a hankering to pimp it up (as well as to protect those spatulas from wear), on two different German rotary tubas, I've ground these down to about 50% thickness (so as to not add much weight) and soldered these to the spatulas. They fit on the typical spatula VERY nicely, diameter-wise, and (well...) look Teutonic as hell, yes?

Yep. Still pretty iffy,but im hopeful. What are my fifth valve options? Dependent vs independent?

MikeMason wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:15 pmWhat are my fifth valve options? Dependent vs independent?

There looks to be plenty of room in the leadpipe before the first valve to add a 5th. It would be independent. Pretty standard place for it to go on a rotary horn.

This is how they've been doing it at Mainz for a while - with offset elbows coming out of #1:



but if you do the FF *semitone thing, it can easily be crowded into the available space - with no other alterations necessary.
__________________________________
*
B & E - 5-4
E-flat - 5-2-4

Is this something “the bloke” could pull off?