POLL - Do you let other people play your tuba

[Worth]

Irrespective of COVID19 implications, I wanted to get a feel for what the consensus is out there regarding others who want to switch off instruments during a session and or play test your personal horn. I notice that many players switch off instruments freely without concern, most often with their own mouthpieces (usually, but not always). My concern is that oral hygiene (or lack thereof) and specifically periodontal disease bacteria can totally change the biofilm which inhabits your instrument. In particular, periodontal disease bacteria are known for a distinct bad odor. For this and other esthetic reasons, I have always declined, often to the confusion or chagrin of others. Other concerns might be possible damage (fumbling the instrument, etc). The poll allows multiple responses. If you have other thoughts which are not included in the poll, please elaborate.

[bloke]

I have Jimbo mockups of all of my tubas, so people only think they’re playing my tubas...
...and - if they played my real ones - it would only result in epic disappointment with their own equipment.

[UncleBeer]

It's a bit like borrowing a toothbrush.

[bloke]

I don’t think it’s a good idea to play one other person’s instruments, but it’s just fine to go to a show and try thirty tuba-shaped objects after hundreds of other people have tried them - as long as those instruments are played while wearing a mask (with a hole cut in it - where the nose and mouth are).

non-sarcastic response below:
As long as someone doesn’t put their lips over the mouthpiece receiver on someone’s else tuba and suck, and as long as a mouthpiece is washed and scrubbed in the cup with washcloth - and in the back with a backbore brush with hot water and detergent - and then rinsed (before and after), I don’t see a problem.
If an instrument’s owner is actually sick, it may be a good idea to send a generous spiraled squirt of valve oil down the receiver, before playing someone’s else instrument...and the same goes for the person trying their instrument (after trying it), if that person is sick.

may trigger some:
It’s time to stop being played by the top-down orchestrated Andromeda Strain mentality, to begin to employ reasonable (which necessarily requires skepticism) analysis, and (at least, for those who were formerly reasonable) to resume living reasonable lives in reasonable ways.

sympathy:
I understand the fear and panic involved when someone discovers they have a chronic illness, and it has to be much worse when someone discovers they have a terminal illness. When I’ve had aches and pains in areas of my body - that mimicked serious illnesses, they’ve certainly frightened me. I’ve lived long enough to have had friends who dealt with chronic or terminal illnesses (several, as I type this), and I truly admire their courage.

exception
I have repaired so many makes and models of tubas – which requires playing them, to make sure that something stupid isn’t additionally wrong after I finish repairing them (such as a child’s toy stuck down in the instrument, etc.), that I typically lack the curiosity to make such a request.

[bort2.0]

It depends on the person.

If some disgusting slob drools and stinks his way over to my tuba and splutters and sneezes as he asks me to try my tuba, hell no. Go away.

If the cute tuba gal with beautiful hair, who smells like petunias, smiles and asks to play my tuba and my mouthpiece, then yeah, sure!

And for the other 99.9% of people in-between... As long as you're not going to drop it, then I pretty much don't care. Although, I am used to the fact that most people don't ask to try other people's horns, even if they want to try them.

[Three Valves]

I've been opening restroom doors and turning off the taps with a paper towel ALL MY LIFE!!

[bloke]

I've been opening restroom doors and turning off the taps with a paper towel ALL MY LIFE!!

A few times in my life, I was in public restrooms with my uncle, and noticed that he never washed his hands. I remarked on that once, and he explained to me “I don’t pee on my hands“.
(He probably understood that it’s best to not touch anything in those places, particularly considering the fact that thousands of other people’s fecal matter is involved...as well as understanding the distinction between “public“ health and HIS health.)

[cjk]

...
If some disgusting slob drools and stinks his way over to my tuba and splutters and sneezes as he asks me to try my tuba, hell no. Go away.

If the cute tuba gal with beautiful hair, who smells like petunias, smiles and asks to play my tuba and my mouthpiece, then yeah, sure!
....

And which one of these is more likely?

[bort2.0]

...
If some disgusting slob drools and stinks his way over to my tuba and splutters and sneezes as he asks me to try my tuba, hell no. Go away.

If the cute tuba gal with beautiful hair, who smells like petunias, smiles and asks to play my tuba and my mouthpiece, then yeah, sure!
....

And which one of these is more likely?

[Three Valves]

I have to go down the hall at my offices for the last 20+ years. It's not like going at a stadium or truck stop but...

FYI~When I go to the Tuba Store or Conference, I bring my own mouthpiece.

[bone-a-phone]

...
FYI~When I go to the Tuba Store or Conference, I bring my own mouthpiece.

And spray alcohol...

[cjk]

in the past year, I've barely let me play my own tuba.

[GC]

I'll let others try out my horn for a couple of minutes in my presence with their mouthpiece only. I'll let someone try my mouthpiece at a clinic if there's sanitizer nearby. I never let my horn be borrowed for fear of damage.

[jtm]

Nobody has wanted to play my tuba, so it hasn't really come up. Maybe when I start seeing other people again....

[bloke]

I do offer to let people play some of my instruments - when they are here buying an instrument or having theirs repaired - because they are things that are not typically encountered in either European or Chinese instrument booths at tuba shindigs.

I particularly enjoy watching college students’ eyebrows go up.

[York-aholic]

[bloke]

...I said STUDENTS, not dropUPs.

[matt g]

What defines good oral hygiene, and how can we tell from casual interactions?

I’ve let people play on my horns with their mouthpiece. I just don’t know where the other standards lie.

[Mark]

I was actually contacted by a man who told me his 12-year old son wanted to play the tuba and was interested in the model of my primary axe. I told him it was a good tuba and that his son didn't need to start on such an expensive instrument. He then ask me if he could borrow my tuba for a week or two to let his son try it.

[bloke]