Miraphone Mirafone 186 5-Valve Rotary CC Tuba -Sold-

Item Details

This is a classic Miraphone 186 CC tuba, made in Waldkraiberg, Germany.  It was imported into Sun Valley, California in 1976 via "Mirafone USA".  These were the tubas stamped "Mirafone" with the different spelling.  I can't even remember why they did that.  But 50 years later we know it's a California horn, so it's helpful.

Norm Pearson writes that he and the owner of this tuba both purchased their 186 tubas during this era and Jim Self helped each of them choose an instrument from the Sun Valley stock.  Those were the good times for Southern California tubists:  Tommy Johnson would stop by the Mirafone USA office and play test all the new tubas when they arrived from Germany.  Tommy would choose a handful of his favorites from the shipment, set them aside, then he and Jim would help their students choose from one of those: the picks of the litter.

After 50 years this tuba is looking somewhat worn but still has good life in it.  Lacquer is worn on top and bottom bows, several joints have been resoldered or have tarnish, top bow has some patches.  It has a couple of smaller dents but nothing substantial.

I just picked this up from Brass Mavens.  Charles did a full cleaning and reassembly.  The rotors and slides are all polished and move with perfect action.  The rotors are tight and the action is smooth and quiet.  The DVS linkage ball and sockets are working well.  The tuba is looking brighter and fresh all around.

The thing that is cool is that the large bows are made in the old style: from a sheet of brass that's rolled up.  You can see the seam in the down-the-bell photo.  This style of fabrication makes the metal thickness more consistent and the tuba is much lighter the newer models.  When you see someone touting a B&S "handmade" tuba at insane prices, they are talking about bows like this 186 has.

The fifth slide may have had a slide stop on it at one time but it's been removed.  This tuba design requires dumping of the water from the fifth loop on occasion and a fifth slide stop would make that a pain in the neck.  The modern setup is to use a nylon cord that can quickly unsnap from the crook.  Both B&S and Miraphone do it this way now.

A new thumb ring is included, but feel free to take it off.  For me it makes movement of the fifth paddle awkward, and long ago Jim Self told me, "We don't use thumb rings here."  The tuba comes packaged in a new Protec PL251 Platinum gig bag.

Details

• A443 tuning
• US size mouthpiece receiver (like King, Yamaha)
• 5 rotary valves, all right hand
• First valve slide has a nice slide stop, perfect for slide pullers like me
• 5th rotor is long 2 whole-step tuning
• New thumb ring is included
• Classic DVS nylon linkages
• Lacquer wear, pitting, dents, patches, resoldering: this one has it all.
• Includes new Protec PL251 Platinum gig bag
• Mouthpiece sold separately