I have this fantasy that maybe 1.) I was more talented and dedicated, 2.) I had a private instructor who could tell me about the tuba world, and 3.) I had the option of buying (or receiving from my parents) a new tuba. In that fantasy, the instructor would have been Bill Rose and the tuba would have been a Mirafone 186.
(A good friend, known to us all, lived that fantasy, so I know how it goes.)
I can’t go back and study with a top pro as a teenager. I did get to enjoy a 186 while in school, though. My high school band director arranged to borrow a Mirafone from Rice University. He was buddies with the director of bands there, and played in the MOB (as did Mike Lynch, and at about the same time). This was 1975, and by then I knew that a Mirafone was the aspirational instrument for such as me. I played Carmina Burana on that instrument, including the high E, in contest.
But let’s say I did get that Mirafone in 1970. There is about a 1 in maybe 600 chance that this is the instrument I’d have owned:
(I prepped this pic a couple of weeks ago and I just know I’ve posted it already, but I just can’t find where I did, so maybe that was also a fantasy.)
And if a 186 was bought for me in 1970, this is about the condition it would be in now.
I described buying it at the Army Workshop in the thread on that workshop, so I won’t reiterate that here. Let’s just say it was a unique buying opportunity, with a high value ratio.
I’ve owned a 186 previously, and traded it (plus a LOT of cash) for the Hirsbrunner 193. My thought at the time was that Miraphones were common, and I could always replace it. But 193’s are rare and special and I’d never get another shot at owning one. That 186 had been ironed out but was a run-of-the-mill late-70’s example in raw brass with valves with worn bearings. Nevertheless, I owned that 186 from 1992 to 2015, and always felt at home with it, despite that wasn’t the best of the breed.
My first gig with it was this last week. The quintet was hired to play the National Anthem at a local conference, and the Todd Marchand arrangement needed the bottom of a 4/4 contrabass. It was easy to play, melded well with the group, and played in tune. With that validation, I really wanted to spruce it up enough to present well to an audience. The lacquer was splotchy and the outer branches were a mixed of z61 flattening and scratched and pitted lacquer, especially around the bell, which is what the audience will see. The above photo is more flattering than reality, but it doesn’t show the ugly brown spots on the inside of the bell where the tech had burned the lacquer to anneal the brass for straightening the bell.
So, I made use of today’s warm Spring weather and removed most of the lacquer from the bell and outer branches using Ferree’s lacquer stripper. Then, I did a bit more dent work and then buffed-polished it with white compound, rouge, and Wenol.
Here it is, passing, as hoped, the 50-foot test. The bell shows scars, but they blend rather than clash.
And just for fun, here’s is the Mirafone 186 next to a Giardinelli-branded B&S 101. The tall bell of the latter gives it more projection, but the Miraphone has a meatier, warmer sound.
I also worked out the small remaining issues in the valves, and now it’s flooding me with nostalgic memories I don’t even possess.
Rick “home again” Denney
)
) simply owning instruments and devices that we hopelessly admired from afar as teenagers still gives us a little rush. 
