He’s not bad; he just needs a Mirafone!

[jtm]

*or she, or they, of course.

So, I confess to have completely missed out on any tuba marketing in the past 45 years. I didn't read the magazines that would have them, always played school owned instruments, and tuba wasn't even my main instrument. Did anybody run ads like that? Or were they mostly endorsements, without any to really whet a player's enthusiasm for a maker or model?

[bloke]

I don’t recall the foreign tuba makers ever advertising in The Instrumentalist, but I only glanced at a volume here and there… I certainly didn’t subscribe to it during that era (or ever).
An exception might have been the B & S made “Schneider“ tubas which were imported by Selmer USA for a few years, and possibly Besson UK (also imported by Selmer USA).

My teacher/buddy exposed me to T.U.B.A. not long after it was formulated, student membership was cheap, I got those small-sized journals mailed to me, and they had a few ads in them. When the Journal became larger, the ads began to become flashier.

Still, there weren’t many outlets:
Miraphone had a single US importer that sold to stores, but also did some low-profile retailing as well, Giardinelli imported some tubas of various makes. (I bought my Miraphone from them, which was grey-marketed: correct “PH” spelling, and no serial number.) Custom Music begin advertising fairly aggressively: European-made tubas, bassoons, and Japanese flutes. Following the “Miraphone USA” business model, they captured exclusive US distribution (yet exclusive retailing as well) of a couple of makes, and created stencil brand brand names for some Czech stuff.
Soon after, Wichita Band Instrument Company started aggressively selling Miraphone and Yamaha - undercutting others’ pricing. (This was pre-WWBW.) Getzen was attracting attention with their Severinsen Model trumpet, and more people begin to notice that they were also importing and retailing Melton (“Meinl-Weston”) and B&M tubas. They only seemed to advertise via a one page black-and-white flyer (the size of a piece of typing paper) and a few ads here in there. Oh yeah: When the Bill Bell Model came out, they spent a bunch of money on a color brochure on that tuba, which was sent everywhere, including to high school band directors.
A guy in New York City - who also made “movies” – was selling Czech tubas with his name on them as well as (possibly) some Belgian tubas.
Prior to the publication of those Journals, places that sold tubas other than King, Olds, Reynolds, Conn, Holton, and Martin (“music store” brands), advertised by mailing flyers and brochures to college low brass teachers and high school band directors. This was the also the beginning of the era of the separate college tuba teacher, as well as a few more orchestras stretching out and becoming “full-time“.
There being no Internet, there was a lot of ignorance, but there was also less misinformation/b.s… though still plenty to go around.
One of the retailers began setting up college teachers as their “artists”, so they would push their makes over others. (so what’s new, eh?) With Mirafone USA isolated on the other side of the Rockies – and piston models appearing everywhere but with Miraphone, Miraphone began suffering a marketshare hit, which may be why they moved to Texas.
I’m guessing most everyone knows the story from here on, and I left some stuff out - due to the length of this post, and also not knowing everything.

[the elephant]

The best was a Miraphone full-page color ad that ran for years in the T.U.B.A. Journal in the late 1980s, It featured a guy with their new-at-the-time 181 F tuba. He had a one-liter glass stein of beer on the floor next to him as he practiced.

I'm sure that ad sold a lot of tubas.

[DonO.]

I have VIVID memories of reading the Instrumentalist magazine when I was in high school, 1973-74. There were definitely tuba advertisement in there. Primarily I remember Mirafone (spelling intentional) and Meinl-Weston. I remember the Mirafone ads being bigger and more elaborate. They prominently featured Roger Bobo. I sent in for more information and was rewarded with a catalog and free Bobo solo album. More drooling. The Meinl-Weston ads were simpler but just as drool worthy to a tuba nerd like me. I knew I just HAD to have one of those magnificent German machines! Our school had Meinl-Weston model 10s, so I was partial to them. In college I ended up with a MW model 25, simply because it was available used when I needed it at the right price.

[bort2.0]

Have you seen these?

https://yorkmaster.org/yorkmaster/photo ... index.html

[bort2.0]

You deserve it...

[jtm]

"You deserve it!" is coming close

[Three Valves]

Because You're Worth It!!

L'Oreal.

[bloke]

I'm going to look at a used tuba, fairly soon.
Am I "worth" it...?? I guess so.
Do I "NEED" it...?? Hell no.

adult daughter (sighing and looking upward and to the right)...
"Someday, we're going to have to get rid of all of this stuff."

me (responding)...
"No worries. Our will specifies that our only heir is the National Rifle Association.
The way things are going, you're going to have way too many other things to worry about, and your oppressive rulers will confiscate most of what you would've inherited - along with that which you currently own, anyway."

[bort2.0]

I'm going to look at a used tuba, fairly soon.
Am I "worth" it...?? I guess so.
Do I "NEED" it...?? Hell no.

adult daughter (sighing and looking upward and to the right)...
"Someday, we're going to have to get rid of all of this stuff."

me (responding)...
"No worries. Our will specifies that our only heir is the National Rifle Association.
The way things are going, you're going to have way too many other things to worry about, and your oppressive rulers will confiscate most of what you would've inherited - along with that which you currently own, anyway."

I prefer the less-bleak, but similar, sentiment included within "You can't take it with you."

But along those same lines... "In Heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here" and "smoke 'em if you got 'em"

[bloke]

<sidebar/off-topic - yet popped in my head, for some reason...??>

crappy $1500 knock-offs of $15000 tubas:

partially help equalize the fact that many gigs - in the 1980's - paid about $75, whereas many gigs - today - pay about $75.

</sidebar/off-topic - yet popped in my head, for some reason...??>

[jtm]

The best was a Miraphone full-page color ad that ran for years in the T.U.B.A. Journal in the late 1980s, It featured a guy with their new-at-the-time 181 F tuba. He had a one-liter glass stein of beer on the floor next to him as he practiced.

I'm sure that ad sold a lot of tubas.

The 181 has changed shape over the years. What was that new-at-the-time version like?