If you could buy a new tuba, would you?

[acemorgan]

Yes. Not for the sake of new, per se, but for practical considerations. I would love to have a Wessex Bombino, but I don't remember ever seeing a used one offered. Maybe in a few years when Wessex rolls out the Bombinissimo*, the devotees will want to unload their older equipment.

*(Artist's conception name; not endorsed by Wessex or its affiliates)

[Bob Kolada]

I would shop around for a nice, full size, used F or Eb. I've also wanted a marching baritone for a long time, I had an Olds marching trombone that I liked but had some problems. That's probably $10k or (much) less for both. I'd experiment with mouthpieces for my JC Sherman Eb bass thing. A contrabass trombone mouthpiece (JK KBP 2C) is a bit tight, playing wise, the horn has a bass trombone shank, I'd like to sit down with a bunch of Josef Klier mouthpieces. I also want to get into night vision and that's a spendy arena. Walk in the woods at night, look at the stars.

Realistically I haven't played in any group in years, not sure I even want to get back into that. Traveling around the country in a truck camper, ala Steinbeck, playing with American concert and municipal bands would have been a blast 5 years ago.

Edit- I would try to get my 1916 H.N. White/King "medium" Eb tuba worked on. Valves are great, it plays wonderfully and sounds fantastic but it's got a bit of the 'ye olde tuba' intonation thing going on. Eb and D in the staff are sharp, F in the staff is flat (whatever) and low D is pretty flat. Low Eb used to be flat until I got ticked off and forced it up, I think I changed a node... Love the horn, love the colorful, rich sound and I can play a 3 valve Eb in just about any usage I'll likely see again- brass band, municipal band, quintet. The leadpipe is a little funky and there's a sizeable dent in the bottom bow. Still a smaller shank, bigger than trombone but smaller than American tuba, it plays fine with a Bach 18.

[Doc]

Would you buy a brand new tuba?

I just did. But you knew that already.

[bort2.0]

Would you buy a brand new tuba?

I just did. But you knew that already.

How many do you have now? And how many of those were new?

Congrats on the new tuba. I think it sounds great! But YOU knew THAT already.

[Doc]

How many do you have now? And how many of those were new?

Six. And a euphonium. I sold everything I previously owned to acquire what I now have. So... the profits from my sales went toward the next acquisitions, and the additional cash outlay was not too much. Everything I have owned has always paid for itself, so it hasn't been a story of complete personal indulgence (the 377 being the exception - an unnecessary, unjustifiable personal indulgence). The 186 was a little more than my budget allowed at the time it went up for sale, so I worked more hours (if that's possible at this point) and made it happen. Same story with the 377 - work/save, work/save, work/save...PAY CASH.

496 BBb - new
JP 377 Eb - new
186 CC - used, but "new" in its own way
Symphonie F - used
Helicon Eb - used
Conn 20J BBb - very used, but cheap enough

JP 274 euph - show demo - bought for my stepson to use;- he moved to tuba, so I use it now. Occasionally. Not nearly enough.


And I have basses, all of which have paid for themselves many times over. And amps, speakers, hardware, spare parts...

Congrats on the new tuba. I think it sounds great! But YOU knew THAT already.

[bloke]

I would love to buy myself a John Packer JP377, but...

My 1958 Besson compensating E-flat is "good" (yet absolutely NOT AS good as a JP377), and - for jazz combos - the "optics" of the Besson's rare recording bell are helpful.

[tubaing]

Didn't turn out to be the right price... I was hoping they would give me a price of hundreds. I got a price of thousands. Long story short, there was a tuba that almost went into production... a BBb tuba with a very long tuning slide... But (if memory serves me correctly) it plays in BB natural. It could be played in BBb if the tuning slide was pulled far out... below the bottom bow. I thought that it could make for a fun, easy "cut-to-CC" project.

Here's a crazy thing I've been thinking about...

There's a new, never-sold, demo tuba that I'm eyeing...

If I can buy it for the right price, I would buy it with the intention of doing some DIY modifications.

The "never sold" part is interesting to me -- demo tubas aren't usually for sale (the nature of being a "demo"), or at least not for quite a while (or if something "changes" in the business arrangement).

I hope you buy it and let us know about it. :)

I will share details if I move forward on it. Im expecting to get more info next week. But it would make for a fun summer project if I do get it