Does he still have his shop/web store? I had his page bookmarked from long long ago...

Rudy 5/4 BBb

Probably more 6/4 sized. Not really a Kaiser. A heck of a tuba.

Congrats!

I can see my spine crumbling just by looking at it

The only other time I've ever heard of Bon Ami was on The Price is Right!

It's a beautiful horn, and I bet it sounds awesome.

The seller is also a really nice guy, I met him about 8-10 years ago when he bought a horn from me. Excellent player, knows his stuff.

And really, tell me another handmade German made 5-valve CC tuba for this price

It looks a lot taller and skinnier than the Willson 3100, but also way out of context. Still seems like a much better use for the parts!

The interesting thing here is that the leadpipe enters the 4th valve, "the music goes 'round and around, whoa-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, and it comes out" of the top of the 5th valve. Seeing as how the 1st and 2nd valves are used most often, I wonder what that might be like.

The stuff pictured here is very ...

I mean this was a decade or more of this that I heard of it, but some people might feel safer doing them in a public area like this instead of someone's home, and I am not sure if they were kicked out of the unit for doing business there.

I have known people who rent space in a teaching studio ...

russiantuba wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2026 12:34 pm I have known people who have rented storage lockers to teach lessons in or practice.

Yikes -- what student would want to go to that?

A location would be nice, too (on the poster)

Also, at my condo here in Minnesota, nobody cared at all.

I had a Schlipf mute back in NYC. It worked well, but it was top heavy and I kind of just never liked using it

In NYC, there was something written in the city-wide ordinances for apartment leases, referring to musical instrument practice. It outlined the hours, and the language was something like ...

aarongsmith wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2026 12:26 pm Cool horn. I've never seen a handmade rotary model with a factory fifth valve.

It looks like they haven't either.

"...and handling"

For a Thein, that's cheap!

Schlitzz wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2026 8:17 am He should’ve used his brother for the pictures.

I was thinking that the 3 of them should be able to handle more than 10 students. Anyway...

That's quite a dramatic poster.

Shipping tubas is a hassle. You got through it, celebrate that, but yeah I think none of us would disagree that it's a hassle.

Time off of the horn can be a blessing though. The setbacks are minor. Find some good in having the time off. You'll bounce back just fine, and the first really good day ...

Also, being a BBb it will be heavier than the CC, and having five valves, even heavier still. I don't know if that will affect the playing characteristics, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were somewhere around the 30 lb mark for this tuba.

You don't have to share it here publicly, but if you ...

I had a rotary 3050 CC... Not the same tuba, but realistically it was close enough to answer your questions.

My tuba was very heavy. Probably 25 lbs for the tuba alone. By the time you add a gig bag and all your stuff, it was a chore to carry it around.

The metal is very thick. I would equate that ...