Miraphone Euphonium for sale

[drdrda]

Hello. I've joined the forum to investigate selling a beautiful Miraphone euphonium (4 rotary valves) ... I have mixed feelings as I reconnect with such a beloved community - on one hand I've been feeling sad for not allowing such a sweet-sounding instrument to fully express its music and on the other, a sacred yearning to be the one who does it. Meanwhile, I am confronted with a touch of reality that I'm too busy with other things, not to mention I've lost a bit of tone myself... Honestly, my success as a player should be attributed more to the horn than myself!
My intention is to have the instrument thoroughly cleaned and evaluated - and valued - in the next week or so. I'm putting the word out early in case anyone is especially looking for or interested in this one.

Thanks in advance for any interest - or thoughts in general.

Blessings,

Deanne Drda

[yadent]

Any further/updated information on this euphonium such as condition evaluation and estimated value?

[drdrda]

thanks for asking... I had Greg Meis do a thorough sonic cleaning. During that process he identified a fixed a weak solder near one of the tuning slides. He suggested the value of a used instrument is often around half of a new one, unfortunately I have NO idea what that is... I'm thinking the next step is to find a more advanced player (than me ;-) ) in Denver and get some feedback. I'm open to other ideas.

[JakeGuilbo]

There is both the Pikes Peak Brass Band and the Rocky Mountain Brassworks in your area, both of which feature stellar Euphonium players. TheHornGuys lists this horn at $7.5k - if it's in good working order and has no major problems you could probably ask somewhere between $5k-$6k and expect to sell it. It is a bit of a niche instrument which means that if you are in a hurry to sell it you may need to drop the price lower than that.

https://www.hornguys.com/collections...-with-5-valves

[yadent]

The HornGuys baritone is the 5 valved 56B Kaiser. This Instrument appears to possibly be the 4 valved 56A model.

[bbocaner]

tuba players like to get these to use as "tenor tubas" because it is wrapped like a tuba and look like instruments they are familiar with. They use them with small tuba mouthpieces for certain orchestral literature, even though this is not really an authentic thing to do. You might have good luck advertising it on tubenet at forums.chisham.com to that audience. Older miraphone instruments tend to have slightly lower values than the newer ones, because of subtle changes they have made in the kranz, valve linkages, etc. Yours seems to have the more modern type of linkages but the kranz engraving would suggest a 1970s or 1980s vintage. I want to say I've seen ones like this in the $2500-$3000 range in the past, but I can't find any right now. That's not to say you couldn't get more than that for yours, but it's a small market for these things which limits your options.

[BDeisinger]

I have a 4 valve rotary baryton (German) oval which I happen to love and has a unique sound. Because of it being rare and not generally used in the US, it would be a tough market to sell, if it would sell. My reason for purchase was because I have arthritis in my right hand and it's a bit easier to play than the piston valves and especially the compensator. The front valve horns work well too. So I'm thinking it's going to be a very select market and may take a long time to sell. My horn is what I would call pristine and is more than exceptional quality in finish and manufacturer.

[drdrda]

rotary valve Miraphone Euphonium - price set

https://www.facebook.com/groups/5105...0585476341522/

thanks for the interest via messages... I'd like to share with everyone:

I finally set a price. $5,000.

The video is of Alison Albright playing my euphonium. She has a master's in euphonium performance, which is so cool! She had never played a rotary valve horn before and enjoyed the response/action of the keys. She assessed it as an intermediate horn, without compensating (I think that came after mine was made, mid 70's) and she found it to be in really great shape. I have not played it much over the years - and I just had it professionally ultrasonically cleaned by Greg Meis.

Please let me know if you have further questions... And thanks to everyone who offered information!!

Deanne

[highpitch]

"She assessed it as an intermediate horn, without compensating (I think that came after mine was made, mid 70's)".

Please explain this.

Dennis

[bbocaner]

lack of compensating does not mean it is intermediate. Almost no german-style instruments are compensating. Compensating valves were invented in the 1870s.

[Markmc611]

The HornGuys baritone is the 5 valved 56B Kaiser. This Instrument appears to possibly be the 4 valved 56A model.

56A? Yeah, looks that way to me too. Here's one for sale at the Brass Ark, Noah Gladstone's shop in SoCal. http://www.brassark.com/sale/ngmirafoneeuph_1.jpg

These aren't intermediate horns either. The other option is the 6 valve C Euphonium, which is really rare. No, not the newer Asian ones.

[drdrda]

"She assessed it as an intermediate horn, without compensating (I think that came after mine was made, mid 70's)".

Please explain this.

Dennis

Hmm, Dennis, thank you for question... I guess I'm saying two things: 1. It is a non-compensating instrument and 2. Alison considered it intermediate. I'm curious, do you feel otherwise? I so appreciate your feedback!

[drdrda]

lack of compensating does not mean it is intermediate. Almost no german-style instruments are compensating. Compensating valves were invented in the 1870s.

Oh, Barry, thank you for that history lesson!! I think I connected the two issues, and that's clearly not true... OK, do you also question it being an intermediate horn? Now I'm more curious.

thanks so much for your thoughts. Deanne

[bbocaner]

It was designed as a professional instrument. It's a different style of professional instrument than most americans would use, and there are certainly limitations, but it wasn't meant for students or anything like that.

[yadent]

56A? Yeah, looks that way to me too. Here's one for sale at the Brass Ark, Noah Gladstone's shop in SoCal. http://www.brassark.com/sale/ngmirafoneeuph_1.jpg

These aren't intermediate horns either. The other option is the 6 valve C Euphonium, which is really rare. No, not the newer Asian ones.

From Brass Ark re: the referenced horn-----A beautiful Mirafone tenor tuba/euphonium from the 1970s. This is a euphonium setup in tuba shape, it has 4 rotary valves, upright bell. Takes a standard small shank trombone mouthpiece. It makes a beautiful sound, ideal for orchestral euphonium parts (Holst Planets, Strauss, etc). The instrument is in good shape, it does have some dents and scratches from use in the bell flare/rim and first branch. Miraphone still offers this instrument as the model 56A kaiser baritone, this one is a bargain at $2800 with case.