FS: NEW Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium - $5700

[davewerden]

I can't imagine ever seeing a better price for a new Virtuoso! This is silver with gold trim, trigger, heavy 4th valve bottom cap, red brass bell, and hard case. This a great opportunity from a dealer who apparently wants to get it off their shelf! Buy-it-now is $5,700.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sterling-Vi...m/173832520116

[daruby]

Now we know the "real" price of the Brooks Mays Sterling Virtuoso down there in Texas!

This is a great price.

[Pat]

I've been pursuing other musical interests for a while, but this one pulled me in. Looks like I'm back in the euphonium world!

[RickF]

I marked this sold. Did you buy it Pat? If so, congrats. Looks really great!

[Pat]

Yep, that was me. I'm a bit concerned about some of the chatter about "Chinese valve set" on the new Sterlings, but I don't want to pre-judge.

[Pat]

Quick update:

Kudos to Brook Mays... fast shipping and the horn arrived via FEDEX in great shape.

Valves are GREAT, even new. No black residue on wipe-down, and they're quiet and quick after their initial oiling. The horn sounds warm and rich.

One curiosity. The serial number on the horn is 46158, which seems pretty low for a new horn given the other serial numbers reported in this forum. It's not a JP horn, so it's left me wondering when the horn was originally built. I sent Paul Riggett a message on LinkedIn to see if he has any insight.

[Pat]

OK, this forum is such a wonderful place to find stuff. I did some more digging and found that the serial number is not on the 2nd valve, but is at the bottom of the bell stack. Number on the horn is 754054, which is much more in keeping with what I might expect!

[daruby]

Aha! You found it. I was about to post that you must be looking at a valve block serial number (from the valve block maker) rather than the serial number for the horn. The total number of horns produced by Sterling is not huge. I am guessing that annual Euphonium production is on the order of 100/year so it may be that yours is the "4054-th" instrument of all types produced by Sterling.

[ghmerrill]

So this is a Chinese-made euphonium, shipped from China, right?

Oops. Sorry -- my fault. I got confused by how that link now resolves.

[Pat]

The horn says "Made in Great Britain", but there is a discussion about the origins of the valve set! Daruby, what number is stamped on your valve set? If mine and yours seem sequential, they may have a common source. If not, mine are likely Chinese. Based on estimated build volume, my GUESS is that the horn was built in 2017, but I could be way off.

To date I can't complain about valve action or valve noise, which is encouraging.

[daruby]

The horn says "Made in Great Britain", but there is a discussion about the origins of the valve set! Daruby, what number is stamped on your valve set? If mine and yours seem sequential, they may have a common source. If not, mine are likely Chinese. Based on estimated build volume, my GUESS is that the horn was built in 2017, but I could be way off. To date I can't complain about valve action or valve noise, which is encouraging.

I am quite certain that the valve sets are not the same since my horn was built in 2009 and Sterling has used at least 3 different valve blocks since then (Cerveny and at least 2 different Chinese manufacturers). I also believe that Paul Riggett has been working with the same Chinese valve set maker now for quite some time (at least 5-6 years) and done a lot of work to insure that the action is improved after delivery from his shop. I was about to say that the numbers stamped on my valveset were "1-2-3" but I looked more closely and the second valve has 43659. I think that the pistons have the same serial number on the tops to insure that the pistons match the cylinders.

I am delighted that you love your horn and want to wish you the very best with your horn. It is good to see a fellow Sterling performer here in the US. By the way, I consider my Virtuoso euphonium and baritone to be my "matched set" and love playing both.