TubaForum.net

Thinking about this... nothing decided yet...

My older son turns 8 next week... time to get going and see what he likes, so I kind of want to pick up an old 3/4 BBb tuba to see what he thinks of it and how he might do. He's a good-sized kid, built solid and somewhere between 4.5 and 5 feet tall.

My 1895 Conn Eb is a really good size for him (it's a little smaller than my Martin medium Eb), but it's not in a good state of repair (and probably not worth the $ it would take to get it to that point... although, I bought it for $30). It would be really nice to find something small and old but in BBb.

I had been considering an Olds O-99, but they might be a little tall, still, and LOL they seem to have gotten expensive! I had also considered euphonium at one point, but 1) he doesn't seem to like that very much and 2) neither do I .

* Pretty small... roughly 30-34" in height,
* American made (Europe is fine, but nowhere else)
* Bluntly -- not interested in the Yamaha 3/4 tubas at all
* Pistons (3v upright or 3v front). Rotors okay if European, but not counting on that anyway
* Ugly is fine but not junky/destroyed. Needs to be functional.
* ^That is, it has to work well enough for a kid to learn, and not think "am I doing this wrong or is the tuba broken?"

Not sure what the budget is, but probably not more than a few hundred... my expectations are set accordingly.

Thanks!

PS -- might consider a small 3v Eb tuba as well, but I'd really like to try and keep him off the path his old man is on right now.

.

3V upright is likely the best bet both in terms of ease of playing and being cheap.

King 1135 or whatever?

tofu wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:58 pm Talk to Lee S & see if he has a used Lidl 3\4 that plays well but has a few miles on the finish. 16 lbs easy to hold and play. (4) Fantastic rotary valves & plays in tune. Has a 16 in. Bell so it has a bigger sound than you might think for a small horn. You could even use it yourself as an excellent quintet horn. Same version of horn was available in Eb F CC BBb with the latter being the most numerous and in my judgement the best version. And they came with a great easy to carry or roll Jacob Winter case. I sometimes wish I held on to the one I bought after a car accident.

Good idea but not in the budget. Besides, why should he have a better tuba than me?

I have a butt-ugly Reynolds recording E-flat hanging on a bit bolt out in the shop.

I won't sell it right now, but I would sell it to bort2.0 later (CHEEP) if he's interested.
I just don't have time - right now - to deal with packing up tubas (whether $20,000 ones or $200 ones).

I haven’t like to suggest that Eb is the route to go and particularly so for a youngster. It’s up to the OP to decide what he’s going to do, but I’ve never regretted playing an Eb instead of a BBb. When the lad is bigger he might be ready for a BBb, but I wouldn’t regard playing a BBb as a step up but rather a step sideways.

.

Sounds like he has three or four years to have fun before it matters what the school has or wants. By then, he'll be so great that he can decide whether to switch mostly to BBb, play both sizes, pick up trombone, or ... whatever.

tofu wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:53 pm

2nd tenor wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 4:43 pm I haven’t like to suggest that Eb is the route to go and particularly so for a youngster. It’s up to the OP to decide what he’s going to do, but I’ve never regretted playing an Eb instead of a BBb. When the lad is bigger he might be ready for a BBb, but I wouldn’t regard playing a BBb as a step up but rather a step sideways.

The difficulty with that is I doubt few US grade schools, Middle schools and High Schools use Eb tubas these days. So he either schleps his own Eb to school every day or child uses Eb at home and BBb at school. In HS the Sousaphones will also be BBb. While learning 2 keys for a kid is doable it adds an extra burden to making the child's initial foray successful. This is even before considering band director preferences.

I don’t doubt that you’re right but the youngster is some years away from playing at school and might (*) either give up or never play a Tuba a school. In the meantime he could be playing a (physically) right sized Tuba (small Eb) with his Dad - who’ll teach him too - and when things change Dad will have a spare instrument that he might use. I can think of many immediate benefits versus some maybe issues latter.
(*) Children very often end up not following their parent’s interests, as a parent we have to remember that it’s OK for them to settle on other good things that bring joy into their lives.

Here in the UK the youngsters, as I did, carry their instruments to school and take them home again (there is no system where you have one Tuba at home and one at school), we seem to get by well enough. Maybe it’s just me and attitudes, I wasn’t a bright or strong youth but my small Eb Tuba (an old, tall and narrow Besson Prototype) didn’t get damaged and did get used; transport was buses and walking, the later being ‘character building’ effort.

Band Directors … well teachers vary and kids learn new stuff all the time. Any sensible person would welcome a child who can already play something well and then work from there.

Anyway, this is all hypothetical and it’s up to the child’s parent to consider and decide.

Theres an Olds 99-4 that just hit the auction site.

:

I started (trumpet ) when I was 8. But in school, it was by grade... So when you started 4th grade, you picked an instrument.

Tuba wasn't an option, it was like flute, clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, or trombone. Oh, or snare drum.

That's all lame, so I'm hoping my son will take an interest in a cooler instrument, lol

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:42 pm That's all lame, so I'm hoping my son will take an interest in a cooler instrument, lol

Get a head start on bassoon!

jtm wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 9:48 pm

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:42 pm That's all lame, so I'm hoping my son will take an interest in a cooler instrument, lol

Get a head start on bassoon!

Too big.

Will have to start him on tenor oon.

I’ll have one of those 4 valves (non-comp) kings pretty soon.

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:42 pm ...
That's all lame, so I'm hoping my son will take an interest in a cooler instrument, lol

Electric bass. Chick magnet.

How about a baritone to start off on?

https://www.dillonmusic.com/used-holton ... -sn-41083/

Buckeye brass has one of those 3/4 kings that are really good.