This past week I went down to Jacksonville, FL to visit the Buffet Crampon Tuba Showroom, very kindly hosted by Warren Kus.
I arrived thinking that I would likely go home with a large CC tuba like a PT-6, MRP CC, or maybe even a 6450. After spending several hours playing all the horns until they started running together, I headed out to dinner and the beach to organize my thoughts.
On Thursday morning I went back to the showroom with a short list of favorites. I spent a few minutes with each of them and made my choice.
I had to consider that even though I really liked the feel of rotors under my fingers, the piston horns played more easily and had more clarity down low. I also had to remind myself that I’m playing as a hobby and not sitting behind a major orchestra, so the horn that was easiest to play and had the best solo sound would be the right one.
It was a very nice experience having the showroom reserved for me, like I’m some important artist. And Warren was super helpful answering all my questions in great detail and pulling horns out of the warehouse as I asked for them.
Ultimately, I ended up going home with a beautiful, silver Meinl Weston 3450. It’s not what I expected to happen, but I love it. So far it's playing very nicely with a Giddings Caver Euro mouthpiece.
