Interesting post on Gronitz tubas

[bone-a-phone]

Passing this along.

[KingTuba1241X]

38'' tall, that's pretty cool. I always thought the Wooferphones were too short. This is 1'' short of a standard 186 in height.

[bloke]

not quite 6/4, but at the very tip-top of the 5/4 range (maybe: PT-6-ish)..??

...with a totally different set of out-of-tune pitches, compared to most of the 6/4 C tubas.
ex: G up in the staff is actually flat
I found that I had to manipulate BOTH the #1 AND the #3 slides to play mine in-tune...and I grow weary of that "hook 'em horns" routine REALLY quickly.
Also, I found that response suffered - when employing the #4 circuit, so I found myself (mostly) playing mine as a 3-valve tuba and doing some REALLY long #1 slide pulls.
They are pretty good tubas, but (to me) a bunch of work. "A bunch of work" tends to distract me from "creating pleasant sounds, that my colleagues need to be hearing".
The natural resonance of it - unarguably - was exceptional...I preferred its sound to that of any (actual) 6/4...INCLUDING (yes: back-to-back compared) "the" 6/4 C tuba played by "its" player.
...but I'm REALLY ATTRACTED to equipment (tubas and mouthpieces) that allow (or nearly allow) me to FORGET about those things, and just concentrate on the SOUND.
Mine was one of the thin-walled ones, and (I'm fairly sure that) it weighed no more than my (albeit 6-valve) F tuba.
I did enjoy the portability, but (tradeoff) I had to be REALLY careful with it.

[T.Brunmayr]

Dear Friends
I´m the Professor for Tuba at Freiburg University of Music (the City where Andreas builds these wonderful tubas)
I have to say that all the Gronitz Tubas are just wonderful. Highly recommended. I play a PF 125 Piston F Tuba wich is fo me one of the best Piston valve F tubas on the market. I´ve also playtested the PCK C Tuba (i have to mention that i´m a B -flat player and not so used to C) and really liked the response and Intonation.
So if i have to go for a CC Tuba, this would be my choice! I´m no endorser for any company and i play the tubas that i like, i have tubas from many different brands. The Gronitz and Klingspor Tubas are definetly worth to give it a try! Highly recommended

All the best
Prof.Thomas Brunmayr

[cjk]

amusing:

Gronitz Tubas:
Played by leading players as
...
(list of people who no longer play Gronitz tubas)

[bloke]

I never could find one of their piston F tubas on display at any exhibits, so (as curiosity dictated, and as I like to know how most all models of tubas play) I bought a new-condition used one that someone had for sale. I kept it for as long as it took to advertise it and get it sold. I’m sure they appeal to some players.

...so - for the record, I’ve owned two instruments of this make, which makes me feel qualified to comment about them.

In addition to the two that I’ve owned, I also had the medium-large size C in my home for about 1-1/2 days. It had been sent to a friend on approval (and returned).

All of them were assembled very well.

[AndyTuba70]

amusing:

Gronitz Tubas:
Played by leading players as
...
(list of people who no longer play Gronitz tubas)

I think thats not the Problem of the Instruments..........

"money makes the world go round"

if Gronitz/Klingspor pays they will play Gronitz for shure ;-)

[bloke]

Tuba manufacturers do not give away tubas, and nor do they pay anyone to play them. They might pay airfare for a player to show up and hawk their wares at some convention, but that player is expected to work.
The best deal they offer is to sell one or two instruments to a very select few higher-profile people for the same prices that dealers pay.

PCK - sounds just fine, as long as one is careful in the low range, because that range gets bright when only applying a little bit of “gas”.
Again, it also requires constantly having a pinky finger on the #3 slide and a thumb and index finger on the #1 slide…’ too much “choreography” for me... even though I am the guy who’s glad to use six valves.

[AndyTuba70]

Tuba manufacturers do not give away tubas, and nor do they pay anyone to play them. .................

trust me they do.... and it is not so less if you are the right Tubaplayer , i know it from first hand.
money, instruments for less, flights of course, and so on.........

[bloke]

I suppose (??), if they're cheap-to-importers tubas (or expensive-to-manufacturers/unpopular/need-to-move-'em tubas).

I'm not name-dropping, but big-deal-to-tuba-players tuba player (as - let's face it - only tuba players know tuba players' names) bought theirs (with their name in the model name) for dealer cost.

...and (every time I've had to fly to play a gig, MY airfare and MY hotel rooms were - of course! - covered by the contractor).
again: "Hawking wares" (aka: selling stuff / aka: glad-handing people at conventions) is a GIG.

Just so we all know:
As a professional wares-hawker, who's your benefactor?


oh yeah, I almost forgot: