TubaForum.net

Congrats, Tim... glad you didn't make a regretful decision.

If I would have had the money, I was definitely interested... But I'm glad I was unable to buy it, now!

--Younger, but old enough to know those things ain't going to get any easier to find

Does anyone know when Reunion Blues/Cronkite started doing the clamshell style cases?

I'm certain I ordered a new 186-sized cordura RB bag with the bell end like the original post around 1993, maybe as late as 1994.

The new design was in place by late 2002 for certain as I bought a bag for my Alexander 163 that November, and it was the clamshell design with the square bell end. I received it in January or February of 2003. I had never seen that layout before, even in photos. I was not pleased at first, and I still would have preferred the old style, but it was undeniably a very fine bag. I think this was around the time when Steve Ferguson started selling them for GC. I think I actually ordered it from Cronkhite directly but had spoken to Steve about it a few times on the phone. He still has a photo of my three bags lined up on the sidewalk on his site. (They were pushing two-tone leather at that time. British Tan and Chocolate Brown was the new, hip thing, and that is what I ordered. Must have been an outgrowth of the whole late-nineties "black and tan" fad.)

Here is my original photo Steve used on his site for years (and that may still be there). This was taken in 2006. Top to bottom: Holton 345 (still have this bag), Alexander 163, Yamaha YFB-621…


Here is my old 1958 Alexander in its 2003 Cronkhite bag, again, in 2006. The bell end is VERY tight because this is a Miraphone 186 bag. Glenn did not have an official 163 template because he kept having his Alex bags returned because they did not fit. He said the older 163s had a lot of variation in the height of the top bow, and sometimes the bags would be too tight at that "shoulder" area. He said this would fit for sure, but that it would be tight. He also said that leather would eventually stretch to fit. (It did, but it took four years.) He said that Cordura would NOT stretch enough over time and would remain just as tight for the life of the bag. An interesting tidbit from an expert.

I would just like to add that I don't have any intention to sell my set of bags for my instruments, even though I've migrated over to hard cases. Even if I stay in good enough health to handle these heavier hard cases for the rest of my playing career, I just don't really want to sell stuff that I could potentially use that is - in my opinion - "The Best of the Best".

and usually the "best of the best" is very hard if not impossible to replace. So I'm keeping my nice bags, tubas, and heavy music stands. If I still had my Honda Element I would be using a case. For now, I can still lift the tuba & bag. Ha. I only go out once a week to rehearse with my pianist/buddy.