I acquired (for flipping) a late-era (so-called HB-21 - ie. 392) C instrument - years ago - which featured plated pistons with fancy little adjustable valve guides (adjusted in and out).
The thing is this:
They were identical to the pistons found on B&S/M-W tubas OTHER THAN
- nickel plated, rather than unplated stainless steel
- those gimmicky valve guides
- valve tracks in the casings and clock-location of guides on the pistons were different.
The tuba that I picked up was inexpensive, because it was missing all four pistons.
I had some B&S/M-W pistons, and was just about to move the guides on the pistons that I had and lap those pistons into the Hb casings (all slightly snug), but Peter, Jr. offered me a set of four (as described above) which were all slightly dinged up, yet worked perfectly (bargain pricing). Dave Secrist had not yet retired and I sent the pistons to him to dress up (fill the little dents) and plate them back to the same dimensions.
(That way, it was less work for me, and I was able to hold on to my spare M-W/B&S pistons.)
I SUSPECT (??) that those plated pistons were sourced from the same fabricator as B&S/M-W pistons, but (simply) made just different enough to appear to be proprietary to Hb.
Same seller (I think) has a "C melody soprano sax." So what is that? And why something in C as that seems a bit odd. Unless it's for that crowd that reads by fingerings so they can play from a different clef? I almost never see a soprano sax being played anywhere. Lots of altos, tenors, baris, but no sopranos. I don't even know what a "regular" soprano sax reads, clef-wise; Bb treble clef, same as trumpet?
Mary Ann wrote: ↑Sat Jul 08, 2023 9:28 am
Same seller (I think) has a "C melody soprano sax." So what is that? And why something in C as that seems a bit odd. Unless it's for that crowd that reads by fingerings so they can play from a different clef? I almost never see a soprano sax being played anywhere. Lots of altos, tenors, baris, but no sopranos. I don't even know what a "regular" soprano sax reads, clef-wise; Bb treble clef, same as trumpet?
The instrument most commonly called the "C melody" sax is pitched in C between a Bb tenor and Eb alto; the C soprano is an octave higher. Production on both stopped around 1930. You can read more about them here: