The tuba player of the Suisse Romande plays a 290 with a gold brass bell, an HB 21 and and sometimes an HB 50. Here in Europe a great deal of tuba players play the HB 290 rotary which has a great shining soloistic sound. An amazing heritage that includes stories of Napoleon's invasion of Switzerland and Hirsbrunner making instruments the French military band stationed in their district! He was just finishing an HB 55 a 5/4 CC tuba which isn't in their catalogue and only made to order. In the little museum they have instruments with Stozel valves, Wiener style French horns, Wiener pumpen style valved tuba, keyed bugle, ophicleide, Russian cimbasso, lever actuated valved trumpet all fabricated by Hirsbrunner. In the same village from at least 1500 ad! Seven generations of instrument makers. The history of the family is extraordinary. If you turn up with one they'll copy it for you. They can (and have copied) any tuba that you want. If you want a hirsbrunner tuba they will build it for you. They also floated the lead pipe off the bell for me and corrected the valve alignment which was way off, got rid of a few dents, the valves got a chem clean as well. They did a great job and it plays brilliantly now.
I was there to get my fifteen year old newly acquired HB 21 fitted with a new bell and get one or two things sorted out. I have just had the great pleasure of meeting Peter Hirsbrunner and his colleagues at the factory in Sumiswald here in Switzerland.