Is anyone familiar with these older Holton horn models? The 76 is Geyer and the 77 is Kruspe, but other than that, I can't find any documentation on them. Has anyone played them? I'm trying to determine what quality of instrument they are, so if anyone can draw comparisons to some of today's more common models, that would be great. One can assume that these are likely similar to today's Holton 176/177 models, but we all know what happens when we assume, right?

Many thanks.

I've got a 181 that is probably from the late 60's that I was told was ordered custom to have reduced bracing. But when I looked at images of the 77, it is basically the same thing but with a different flipper for the thumb valve. My bell is a different color from the rest of the body, I suspect it is rose brass while the body is yellow brass. The FF is loud but blares if not careful, while the pp speaks very easily. The notes below E below C get a little stuffy and the high A, though it can be out of tune on T12 fingering, speaks well. The Bb is tough. The tone is really nice and suitable for orchestra or solowork. If it speaks of the instrument at all, I'm keeping it while consigning the 8D.