This is the tuba that brought phil Holcomb back to music!! It is a small F tuba with 3 Rotary valves-made by Carl Muller- Aarhus, Denmark  I found this tuba in Copenhagen in 1984 while waiting for Tivoli Gardens to open.   I casually asked the proprietor of a music shop whether he had any used tubas for sale. To my great surprise, he said yes, what kind did I want?  As I was on a tour of Scandinavia, I asked for something small enough to carry easily ..... he brought this little tuba up from his dusty cellar . I wasn’t even sure it was a tuba as it is the size of an euphonium   (10 1/2" bell; 32" long) - but he insisted it was a tuba - and in the key of F.  I bought it, and he found an old conga drum case to pack it in.

That same day I struck up a conversation with the tubist of the big band in Tivoli .  He noted my Hawaii Yacht Club bag and asked if I were a Yachtsman, and would I like to go sailing the next day.  I replied that I would like to, but that I had to fix my new old/tuba.  He said, "no problem!"  my friend will fix it while we go sailing tomorrow (a Monday- his only day off).  So I went sailing - and the tuba was fixed. I carried it back to Oman, helped formed the Muscat Brass, and thus started the renewal of my avocation as a tubist  after 25 years of abstinence!

I added a Eb conversion crook later which doesn't require any  permanent modification.  It works great and allowed me to play the tuba using trumpet fingerings in both treble clef and bass clef (with some manipulation of the key signiture) most helpful when I played British Brass band arrangements where tubas parts are in treble clef!