Optimum number of horns

[Stryk]

1. How many do you really need? - REALLY, zero
2. How many can the wife/family tolerate? - So far, 22
3. How much available space do you have? - enough
4. Is it feasible to invest in these things? - Tubas are no investment.
5. How many do you REALLY love or can't bear to part with? Six
6. Quality of life gained if you sell some? - None
7. Quality of life gained if you buy some? - A lot
8. Available time to enjoy them? - 16 hours a day, give or take a few
9. Available time to play one really well? - Why?
10. How difficult will it be to get rid of them without a loss? Does this matter?
11. How difficult will it be for family members to sell at a yard sale? Impossible.
12. Will your future liquidation require crating/shipping to recoup the investment? Again - not an investment.
13. Is something you always wanted something you really have time to use & enjoy? YEP!

[bloke]

Fortunately for people like me, there are people like you.

bloke “I will never discuss what I paid for any of my personally-owned instruments.“

1. How many do you really need? - REALLY, zero
2. How many can the wife/family tolerate? - So far, 22
3. How much available space do you have? - enough
4. Is it feasible to invest in these things? - Tubas are no investment.
5. How many do you REALLY love or can't bear to part with? Six
6. Quality of life gained if you sell some? - None
7. Quality of life gained if you buy some? - A lot
8. Available time to enjoy them? - 16 hours a day, give or take a few
9. Available time to play one really well? - Why?
10. How difficult will it be to get rid of them without a loss? Does this matter?
11. How difficult will it be for family members to sell at a yard sale? Impossible.
12. Will your future liquidation require crating/shipping to recoup the investment? Again - not an investment.
13. Is something you always wanted something you really have time to use & enjoy? YEP!

[bort2.0]

I had interpreted #8 as "how many more years of playing do you expect to have?"

[UncleBeer]

One of the greatest things about a steady orchestra gig is being able to justify buying horns. I 'got by' with a 6/4 CC, a fantastic Eb BAT, cimbasso, and French tuba.

[Dan Tuba]

Another consideration that hasn’t really been discussed is financial. Let’s face it, tubas are spendy. If you want several top quality horns for different purposes, you could easily be 50,000 plus. That’s serious change for a poor musician. In an ideal world we may want to have all those specialized instruments but in reality you might have to make do with 2 or even one and figure out how to make it work for you.

This has been the case for me most of the time. I have 4 children, single income, so most of the time I can only afford to have one tuba around, and most of the time it's been sort of a "budget" type of instrument. Sure, I would love to have better/more equipment, but my family comes first. It's amazing at the obstacles that you can overcome if you only have one option, lol However, very rarely have I actually been in a situation where I couldn't get the job done with "a" tuba. I've had to work really hard, and might have wished I didn't have to work so hard, lol

With that said, over the years I have had the opportunity /access to learn most of the different types/keys of tubas. If your financial situation affords you the opportunity to own more than one (at least one contrabass and one bass tuba), it will certainly make your life easier, especially if you work as a professional(really a necessity if you have to serve in the roles of orchestral tuba player, and/or brass Quintet tuba player.). If you are asked to perform as a soloist, I recommend not wasting your time with the contrabass tuba on most literature specifically written for that purpose... sure, there might be some "educational" value to it, but really just a lot of unnecessary frustration. It's considerably easier to learn how to play a bass tuba for solo literature (or parts marked "bass tuba"), than to try to slug it out with a contrabass. I didn't have a choice in many situations but to do this...I don't recommend, lol Bass tuba is your friend It really doesn't take that long to learn new fingerings, and it really frees you up to focus on the music, rather than working so hard and/or worrying about cracking notes.

However, if you only have a "big" tuba, you can still do just about everything(and believe it or not, "big' tuba is what most people expect in the US at least) Don't let that discourage you. Just be prepared to work a little harder than those perhaps a little more fortunate And, when you finally have the opportunity to learn/play/own a bass tuba, you will be ready for just about anything

So back to the topic, if finances allowed for it, I would own at least one contrabass and one bass tuba...and as many others as possible

[edfirth]

I agree with Terry, if you're in it for the beloved hobby it is, as many as it takes to float your boat.I played full time from 70' to 2016 and up to 83' only found the need for one(usually a KingBb). At that time I started doing other kinds of work. At first I just squeezed out Midsummer Night's Dream and other higher laying stuff on my King but then Yamaha cut a deal with Disney to supply instruments to the whole park free of charge with the option of buying them every six months. My sidekick in the band got a Yamaha Eb that he tried and put back in the case but I got called to do Berlioz TeDeum and the personel manager suggested that I bring my "high horn" so I borrowed it and was shocked at how easy it was to play high parts so eventually I bought one and kept it although I didn't use it alot. I liked my 2341 new style King that Matt@Dillon picked for me for the three years I was with Soverign Brass although sometimes the Eb would make an appearance. Thoes two horns are the same bore size annd I think that contributed to ease of going back and forth. Mabye 2012 I came across a King rotary Bb that made a huge nice sound and when I took it to rehearsal it became my big orchestra horn. I also kept a 1241 King that I used for jazz stuff and it had both bells. Also kept a King baritone "just in case". I played baritone and trombone on the Circus Vargas band and you just never know what's going to get put together job wise.If I was still doing it I'd have a King 5B along that same line of (ill) lojic since I can cover the lower bone parts quite well on it.So Big horn,King rotary, medium all around horn King 2341, High horn Yamanahomina Eb, Schlepping to jazz jobs horn King 1241, and a King baritone just in case. BUT now that I'm a tick away from the big 70 and not taking jobs anymore(I can't see to drive at night,the money is low, and the jazz guys of the current group know an average of 15 tunes to be repeated to the end of the job.So I'm considering a C Piggy which can actually do anything and is small and is light.But that's just me . Best to All, Ed

[Three Valves]

1. Old Man tuba for every day. Check.

2. Glass Sousaphone for outdoors. Check.

3. Rotary BBb tuba because I decided I like them too.

[Oedipoes]

B&F kaiser BBb for everything big, indoor and not brass band (however, I'd like to try it in brass band )

Hirsbrunner 4/4 BBb for everything smaller, indoor and not brass band

Besson Eb compensator for everything brassband

Miraphone Norwegian Star Eb for everything solo (not really) and quintet except brass band quintet

Conn 36K for everything outdoor and beer gigs


This list might change over the years, as it already did a number of times....

[Rick Denney]

As long as my wife knows Mike Lynch (and she does), I get a pass.

She: "Why do you own eight tubas?" Me: "Mike Lynch." She: "Yeah, okay."

For me, if I find myself not really feeling like I have the right tuba for what I want to do, optimality has not been attained. I've been playing tuba for 50 years, so the expectation that I would simply get better enough to make whatever I have work in that situation is probably not realistic at this point.

But I still find myself going back for a while, because doing so is fun and keeps me engaged. So, though I have certainly sold or traded tubas in the past, I tend to do so reluctantly. So, I end up with a fleet.

I have four Bb tubas in three sizes and two styles, and could probably stand to add a smaller one in the German style, just for fun. One of the current ones is not regularly playable an needs restoration. And I have two F tubas in different styles, each particularly good at something. And then there's the euphonium, and Solder Practice, and a couple of trombones.

Rick "who gets sentimental about tubas at times, too" Denney

[jtm]

As long as my wife knows Mike Lynch (and she does), I get a pass.

She: "Why do you own eight tubas?" Me: "Mike Lynch." She: "Yeah, okay."

Perfect. When brass band starts up again, I'll introduce my wife to Mike, too.

[WC8KCY]

For me, these ten axes cover all my playing needs:
Holton Monster E-flat
Schiller (Jinbao) 520 BB-flat
Martin Indiana E-flat sousaphone
Yamaha YEP-321S euphonium
King 1055T Silver Flair trumpet
Martin Freres 1Eb E-flat clarinet
Boosey & Hawkes 8-10 B-flat clarinet (wood)
Yamaha YCL-20 B-flat clarinet (composite)
Conn (Malerne) 11N alto clarinet
Engelhardt ES-9 double bass

If I could afford a big compensating E-flat tuba that wasn't a 3+1 setup, that would replace both the Holton and the Schiller.

[iiipopes]

I play tuba in community concert band. That means one tuba, conventionally in BBb, which I have. Everything else is elective:

Souzy for outdoor gigs;
BBb tuba that used to be the concert tuba;
Eb that will probably never get played;
B&H 3-valve comp euph when I had to double on euph;
Wessex "American" style baritone when I played it instead of tuba in concert band;
Assorted upper brass for grins and giggles, and an occasional gig otherwise.

I am examining all these instruments with the "bloke rule," to see if, excluding pandemic down time when nobody was playing, the time has come to sell. Since I have actually played the souzy within the last 12 months, and outdoor concerts are scheduled for 2022, and since I have played one of my upper brass in the last 2 months, and will again for at least two concerts in 2022, and one of the upper brass horns (Couesnon flugel) borders on collectible so I look for places to play it, those three in addition to the concert tuba will probably stay. Everything else is negotiable. Anyone curious may PM me.

I am a player, not a collector, and I believe I am finally getting over the, "Gee whiz that's cool: I'd like to have one," and recognizing that in this neck of the woods other types of gigs just simply don't exist outside of college/university small ensembles.

[Andy]

Why do you need more than one tuba.jpg (33.42 KiB) Viewed 888 times

[prairieboy1]

My horns are listed below:
1916 Holton "Mammoth" 3 valve BBb
1932 King "Symphony" Recording Bass 3 valve BBb
1998 King 2341 4 valve BBb
1970 Yamaha 321 4 valve BBb
The Yamaha is the latest addition to the crew. I purchased it last spring after seeing it sit on Facebook Marketplace for nearly 8 months. Battered and bruised and overpriced, I waited long enough to make a deal on it with a price that I thought was reasonable. Once I brought it home, there certainly were things to be fixed which now have been. The slides needed some dent work, however the valves looked to be almost brand new. A new Gard bag and a Pt-50+ mouthpiece and I now have a practice horn that lives at our band hall. My back is very appreciative. The other horns live at home and are played on a regular basis as well. Ed Firth said it best, "If it is what floats your boat, as many as you need"!