tuba ownership / emotional attachment

[jtm]

* Looking back, I'm not sure why "the poor kids" didn't all just play big/school owned instruments, instead of the high-pressure rent-to-own programs that were a financial strain for those families. I think my Bundy trumpet was like $30/month or something... which I don't think was easy on my parents.

I wanted to play horn, but didn’t know about school instruments, so my first year of band was with my Dad’s clarinet (a nice Buffet; SO happy not to be playing a plastic Bundy). But the next year I moved to a “big” instrument (bassoon), and everything else I played in band through college (apart from borrowed trombones) was school owned. So I never owned a tuba until 5 years ago when I started playing again.

I seem to be a little sentimental about the 1965 Miraphone Bb 186, which IS the first tuba I owned, even though only recently. Part of it is that the body serial number is the same as the address of the house I grew up in.

[Mary Ann]

I was (and am) definitely emotionally attached to my violin. There IS not another like it, and I had it since I was 17.
The soulless mofo who stole it, I'll just not say what I'm still thinking.

I wish I had never sold my first 184, but that's because it was a stellar example of the model.
I sold tubas twice when my health situation looked like it was insurmountable and then a few years later turned back around.
I was really glad to get my NStar back, but I would have been just as happy with another one, assuming at least same quality. I love it but am not emotionally attached in even the same ballpark as the violin.

[kingrob76]

Everything is for sale, it's just a question of price point. Everything can be replaced. I have had horns I LOVED the way I sounded when playing them. I let them go and got other ones I loved the way I sound on them, too.

[Finetales]

I go through a lot of brass instruments. I currently own 29, but have sold 36 according to my spreadsheet. I generally operate under two rules:

1. Instruments are tools, not companions. As much as I've dabbled in collecting over the years, it's never stuck for very long. If I don't use it, I don't like having it.
2. Never settle. If something better comes along and is within budget, whatever I'm currently using gets sold right away (no matter how much I like it or how long I've been using it) to make way.

Everything is for sale, it's just a question of price point.

Then there's this. EVERYTHING has a price.

I don't regret selling anything I sold, though there are some special horns I had to sell in tough times that I wish I hadn't had to.
There are a couple of horns I regret not buying, though.

[doh2341]

I'll chime in since this is an interesting topic. Generally I fall into the "everything has a price" category, but there have been/are a few exceptions to that, or perhaps more accurately a few horns that I do have an emotional attachment to. The main one is my main horn, a Besson 995. It was left to me by my teacher when he passed and means a great deal to me beyond whatever attributes it has as a tuba, though it does happen to be a pretty damn good horn. There is basically nothing that could compel me to sell that horn, and my explicit instructions are that it be passed on to someone in the same manner it came to me when I finally croak.

The other is my first horn, a King 1241. I sold that one to pay for a transmission in my truck many, many years ago, and while it was the right choice, I do still regret needing to sell it. I've bought and sold several Kings since then, and none of them have been quite as good as that one. I do still have the bell though, and that pleases me.

The rest of the horns I own/have owned, I've had no real problem selling for their various reasons. Many I've bought simply because I wanted to see what they were like. I'd own them for a while, have my fun with them, and then move them along. I have a 25J that I adore the sound on, but due to physical limitations I don't play it anymore, so it's on loan right now, and will eventually be sold. In fact, once I'm not absent from the country for long periods of time, most of my current horns will actually be for sale as I simply don't use or need them any more.

[bloke]

We have a long-term customer friend and now band director who has a son whose grandfather bought him a nice bass guitar that is basically a Fender-USA-made reissue/reproduction (the vintage of the one that I currently have for sale which is genuine vintage). As we all realize, these are basically in-house manufactured knockoffs. He would really like to have my bass, but doesn't want to sell the one that (though he picked it out) his grandfather gave to him in order to help pay for mine - the reason (again) being that his grandfather gave it to him. Since I'm not a person who's emotionally attached to physical items, I pointed out to him that if he bought my bass (selling the one his grandfather gave him) it would absolutely continue to be a gift from his grandfather, but he's like some other people whereas he does have emotional attachment to physical things, and just wasn't able to sell that reissue/reproduction bass, so he was unable to gather enough funds to purchase mine.

[sweaty]

I will never sell my 40-year-old Willson 2900 euphonium because I bought it from Brian Bowman while I was studying with him throughout high school. He picked it out from a batch of 14 and sold it to me at his cost. I hear the new Adams euphonium has better intonation, but I just don't play enough to justify the cost.

My main reason for keeping it is that it is a tangible reminder of the incredible opportunity I had during my formative years to learn from him. He was very intense, pushed me hard in lessons, played with me and for me, and blew me away with his blazing technique, great sound, and musicianship. He is on a very short list of people with the most influence on my life. Of course, MANY euphonium players will say the same thing!