Conflicted about tuba choice

[bisontuba]

Sell the Rudi...buy a 188/1291/186...

[bloke]

Again, I’m pretty sure that the thinking, observant, skeptical, and analytical amongst us have long figured out that “The Science” is part of the newspeak vernacular…ie. “because we say so, and because we control the armies and jails, as well as a major portion of the formerly-private sector“.

As far as pure science (or “The Science”) and musical instruments/singing, and performance practices are concerned, it’s difficult to suppress snickering when watching videos or listening to audio presentations when purely physics/engineering-based folk attempt to tell us all about it. By this, I would refer to “humbell’s” most recently linked YouTube movie clip involving the actor, Billy Bob Thornton.

[bloke]

Minivans are sort of laughed and scoffed at - but some of the rare ones with reliable engines and transmissions -,and decent gas mileage - can be pretty handy if all of the back seats are taken out and stored away.
We picked up sort of a mini-minivan – one of those toaster style cars that Honda made called an Element. They had really shitty automatic transmissions, but we found one with a manual transmission and only 80,000 miles for $4000. We took the rear seats out, and it serves as sort of a mini-mini-mini work van. Mrs. bloke can get 10 square bales of hay back there.

[bort2.0]

I brought a bale of hay home with the 528... opened the sunroof and held onto the twine with my right hand while driving with the left hand. Maybe 0.5 mile from the store to home.

Let's just say, I'm not doing that again.

[Doc]

I'm much like bloke in that I want an instrument that makes my job easy and sounds like I've been practicing plenty. Intonation has to be good. It needs to have a good sound (I personally want to enjoy the sound enough that it encourages me to play). No funky notes, no funky response, and not a shitload of tromboning the slides. It needs to be an EASY BUTTON as much as possible for what I'm trying to accomplish. And it needs to be the right tool, or as close as possible, for the job. But I intend for my tubas to pay for themselves through specific work. If that was not the case, I would still want an easy button tuba.

Brett,
Roger Lewis always described it to me (and to everyone) as the right horn "reaches out and shakes hands with you." You just know, and sometimes with the first note. And after trialing countless tubas over the years, there have been a few that just stand out immediately in that regard. Sometimes, those tubas became my own, and other times they didn't serve my particular needs, so they got a pass. What tuba(s) does that for you?


Regarding conveyances and storage...

...none of you were taught to pack for trips by my father (who also managed to bring home heirloom furniture from our grandparents in our cars), and none of you have delivered dozens of repaired instruments back to schools in compact sedans (or eight or ten instruments back to the school on the way to three separate gigs where you yourself will use four different instruments).

After packing band trailers for almost 40 years, I feel pretty comfortable packing for trips, gigs, hauling tubas, etc. And being raised by folks who emphasized efficiency certainly helps. Of course, my wife thinks I'm a bit of an anal-retentive-overly-meticulous-oboe-playing-taskmaster when it comes to packing (assembling puzzle pieces). Don't ask her about some of my organized/orderly 3 ring binders that contain vacation itineraries, reservations, documents, maps, fuel stops, timelines, etc. (no, I don't do that ALL the time).

If I can pack a tuba, tuba stand, bass guitar, guitar stand, amp, cord bag, mic stand, drum throne, music stand, stand light, clothes, shoes, hat, CPAP machine, a folding wagon, a suitcase, and another adult in a VW Beetle for an Oktoberfest gig, Brett can damend sure find a way put the Rudy in an old BMW. I carried two women, two suitcases, a tuba in a case, a tuba in a gig bag, and a cooler plus snacks to/from blokeplace in a Jeep, and had room to stash more. The problem was that I simply ran out of tuba money and couldn't afford to relieve him of anything else, much to his disappointment.

[bloke]

…so Bill and I are both skilled at playing 3-D instrument Tetris.

[bloke]

Here’s an example of a tuba that plays really well, but that I would not choose:

most of those European made Walter Nirschl style 4/4 - 5/4 20” bell front action C tubas (either either Nirschl handmade, Nirschl production, or Besson 995)

It’s just the type of sound that comes out the bell is the type of sound that that instrument is going to make, rather than the type of sound I’m trying to make…sort of like a euphonium is going to make a euphonium sound no matter what.

Those tubas are VERY good, but I just don’t feel like I have complete control over what I’m doing with them… and the same goes for a PT6-P (or Wiseman knock-off).

I’m not berating those models at all, but I’m just giving an example of really good tubas that - though I would be grateful to borrow them to play a job or two - I would not personally choose to own.

[MN_TimTuba]

I brought a bale of hay home with the 528... opened the sunroof and held onto the twine with my right hand while driving with the left hand. Maybe 0.5 mile from the store to home.

Let's just say, I'm not doing that again.

"You might be a redneck if..."
Wear that badge proudly, Brett. I sure do.
Tim

[Doc]

I brought a bale of hay home with the 528... opened the sunroof and held onto the twine with my right hand while driving with the left hand. Maybe 0.5 mile from the store to home.

Let's just say, I'm not doing that again.

065B6C4C-FA07-4ECD-A21D-F7E67C647901.jpeg (124.28 KiB) Viewed 1037 times

"You might be a redneck if..."
Wear that badge proudly, Brett. I sure do.
Tim

882B8B90-6ABA-4464-A84E-54F107233F16.jpeg (112.27 KiB) Viewed 1028 times

[kingrob76]

It occurs to me @bort2.0 is missing an option here - storing a horn at the rehearsal space and keeping an identical one at home like all the big time symphony players seem to do, or you could also get the bigger vehicle and just leave the second tuba in the vehicle all the time #StairsDefeated

[bloke]

It occurs to me @bort2.0 is missing an option here - storing a horn at the rehearsal space and keeping an identical one at home like all the big time symphony players seem to do, or you could also get the bigger vehicle and just leave the second tuba in the vehicle all the time #StairsDefeated

yeah...Just stick Yamayork #2 back in the janitor closet - under the PVC sink - in that nursing home cafeteria, where y'all rehearse.

[tubanh84]

Minivans are sort of laughed and scoffed at - but some of the rare ones with reliable engines and transmissions -,and decent gas mileage - can be pretty handy if all of the back seats are taken out and stored away.

I drove one all through college. Certainly wasn't the coolest car on campus, but I'll be damned if my friends didn't need rides or help transporting things ALL THE TIME.

[2nd tenor]

What you need is a minivan.

Such vans are available in the UK fitted with five seats and a full set of windows. I think then great and the folk that I talk to who have them think them great too. I suggested to my wife that one would be a really good idea for us … I couldn’t get agreement on that change but ya can’t win ‘em all.

One of her friends drives a Ford B Max, which is much the same thing, and that’s ok - well it’s ok for them to have

[humBell]

Most of us are not workers, and don’t need to be embarrassed by that fact. I play tuba for fun and psychological therapy, and thus can play whatever instrument pleases me. I have built a collection that gives me something close to ideal for the range of situations I face, and I do have an old-man strategy. But tremor may end my playing long before other physical constraints.

Just buy and play what you want. Justification for hobbies need be no more than you want it and have the money.

Rick “not a navel-gazer” Denney

I brought my tuba to my high school reunion earlier this summer. If anyone had questioned it, i would have said it was my emotional support tuba. But no one did.

We got to the end of the evening, and someone even bemoaned that they hadn't heard me play it. But as there was neighbors, i did not wish to further cement our class's reputation at reunion events as troublemakers...

[bloke]

Though
- they are currently supply/demand overpriced by around $20,000, and
- now is an incredibly bad time to buy a house or car - unless one is a lemming who buys high and sells low

a 2022 Toyota Sienna (minivan) claims the mid-30's, as far as gas mileage is concerned.

Sadly, it's a hybrid, which defines incredible destruction of the environment in the obtaining of the materials for the battery, very possibly - the forced labor of minors (minors who are miners) in the obtaining of those materials, the obsolescence of the vehicle - once the battery poops out (as the cost of the battery will exceed the value of the vehicle), and the disposal of the battery (probably, unceremoniously/quietly dumped somewhere overseas) will define additional epic pollution.

bloke "It doesn't look as cool as a Corvette, but it might look more cool that a really large tuba with patched cracks all over its single most expensive component."

[russiantuba]

I choose horns based on what is going to be the most comfortable for me that allows me to think less about the physicality.

My 1291CC was my first tuba I owned. I’ve thought several years about other horns, and this last May at a conference, I nearly made an impulse buy to put my horn for sale (I am a Miraphone Artist now, but people drop those endorsements all the time). As I get older, I realize it’s more about “can I make these changes”. In the past decade, I have only made mouthpiece changes to get that special something I wanted.

If I am going to fight the sound, fight the horn, fight the posture, that is wasted energy that is going to detract. My 1291CC, since I’ve had it so long, does everything I need it to do and more. I know the tuning and tendencies, the sound and how to change it, etc. Whatever I would look at getting would have to do all of that easily AND give me something else. One horn (the one in May) came close, but there is only one other horn that I can say has fit the category, and it is a factory York 4/4 CC, and I know he isn’t going to sell it until he dies, as it’s the last one left…

[royjohn]

It seems like what Brett may need is at least two CC tubas. He is liking the Rudy 5/4 that he has, but maybe an added horn, like the 188 he keeps talking about, would help. Then you have two options, hopefully both of which you love playing...

[bloke]

Since cars and tubas are both being discussed, some tubas are (what I refer to as) "Dodge Chargers"...
- dazzle some tuba geeks
- claim a bunch of horsepower
- seemingly, bargain-priced
- crappy

[bort2.0]

Two contrabass tubas would be an absolute luxury... But I don't think it'll happen for a long time. Frankly, I'm not convinced that I NEED a huge tuba at all, but it is quite fun.

When I got the Rudy, I was expecting to be playing it in bands... And orchestra playing was not on my roadmap at all. But, I got lucky, and am playing only orchestra (lucky..? Lol)

Another angle ... If I knew I would be playing in orchestra only, I might not have bought it.

[Sousaswag]

Wow, new car AND new tuba? Those are some good ideas, Bort

Seriously though, maybe a slightly smaller tuba is the way to go. I’m curious what you didn’t like about that Pt-6 you briefly owned. That would be my recommendation had you not already owned one!