Another long one that is overly detailed.
Cope with it or go away.
Next chapter germane to this thread: Protection of the Tubas
The YamaYork and Adams were both used tubas when I got them. The Yamaha was sold "nekkid" (sans case or bag) and the Adams came with an Adams-branded gig bag that is terrible, and which I suspect is a fake, as it does not match the other Adams-branded bags I have come across. It also came with a decent enough Wessex-branded hard case made for a similarly-sized, but different model of tuba (so that the Adams fits *okay* at best and the outer shell is thin, with *okay* hardware.
Adams Gig Bag: I tossed the gig bag as it had plastic strap hardware, which is unacceptable. The plastic parts are stitched into the system so are not easily replaced with brass or stainless strap loops. I *only* carry gig bags using a single shoulder strap. If the hardware that connects the strap to the bag's body breaks, the tuba instantaneously hits the floor/street. The body was this thin, rubbery stuff with no real padding. But it fit the tuba much better than my expensive Cronkhite. Hmm…
Wessex Hard Case: This was a fantastic case for the drive home. I felt good about the tuba being in my backseat for four days in this case. However, It is not adequate for travel beneath a bus — where in the past one of the timpani hard cases came open and the timpani rolled out, smashing one of my tubas (in a similar Chinese-made MTS-knockoff case that shattered like an eggshell when the timpani hit it. (I lead such a varied and interesting life. Or so I've been told.)
As mentioned above, I bought an excellent Cronkhite gig bag for the little Adams, and I will replace the Wessex hard case. Both were adequate for an inexpensive tuba, but not for one that cost me this much.
The Yamaha came without a case or bag, but I ended up with a Cronkhite leather bag and a surprisingly nice Eastman hard case that is worlds apart from the original hard cases supplied with the 836 when it was introduced. (I have one and it is nearly identical to the Wessex case described above. It is tons better than the old cloth-covered styrofoam blocks of Jin Bao legacy. But it also has a thin, brittle shell. Both have awful wheels, and both have shed the solid "rubber" tires in large chunks so that none of the wheels can roll. it is like these Chinese cases used plastic core inline skate wheels of the lowest quality, with super-soft indoor rubber that the street simply tore to bits after a few uses. The Wessex and the old Eastman cases were made at the same plant using the same crappy hardware and wheels, and both fell apart after a few uses. Junk!
The new Eastman case looks like an attempt to supply something like a real hard case, with a shell that is about twice as thick as the older ones, possibly being fiberglass — it is HEAVY, as in Walt Johnson heavy. By this I mean the Walt Johnson 4/4 tuba case, not the huge one that would fit this tuba — it is nowhere near that heavy, but it is a huge improvement over the old days for Asian tuba cases. This will protect the horn in a low-speed vehicle accident… to a certain extent. It is far better than any gig bag or "cheapo" hard case.
The hardware has that awkward look that many Chinese knockoff products have, generally being sort of goofy-large. To me, this implies they are weaker than the higher quality, smaller fittings that cost a lot more. Frequently Chinese metal is of very poor quality, so to make it stronger it has to be bigger/more massive. This case fairly reeks of that ethos.
Despite this, the hardware all looks to be adequate for the job. I strongly suspect that the loose timpani would not have harmed my tuba had it been in this case. Maybe not, and I hope I never find out, but it does not look or feel junky or weak to me.
The wheels are an improvement over most tuba cases, as they are corner boxes that are riveted to the case shell, so the track is about four or five inches wider than you usually see, and that makes the case a lot less "tippy" when rolling it down the sidewalk. Nice. Also, the wheels are secured into the boxes, so if you smash one hard it destroys the cheap, plastic corner box and does not destroy the case shell. You can probably find direct replacements on Alibaba for cheap. Drill out the rivets and install the new corner housings,
et voila!
More importantly to me, the garbagey plastic wheels are made to inline skate wheel standards and can be easily swapped out for *real* wheels that will last for years. I just spent about $40 on a set of four top-of-the-line outdoor hockey inline skate wheels with Swiss-made bearings that will be drop-in replacements. I will likely never have to replace these, but if I do, I have my initial two plus two more. (I had to do a couple of hours of research to find out how to measure the bearings, and the wheels, and to understand all the jargon used when ordering these.)
If you have one of these Eastman cases and want to perform this excellent upgrade, here are the specs.
Wheel OD — 90mm
Wheel Thickness — 24mm
Bearing Size — 608Z (uses an 8mm axle)
Bearing Quality — ABEC 9
Durometer — 86A
Core/Hub Material — Aluminum
Now, the internal padding of this case is only so-so. The shell is a snug fit. The body shell half at the bottom bow and bell ends has only 1.5" of padding that is VERY soft and that I do NOT trust, and the lid half has about a half of an inch of the same ridiculously soft stuff. I can compress both thicknesses of this padding with almost zero effort, which bodes very poorly in an external impact, being almost as bad as having the tuba in the bare shell without any padding at all.
I will look at DIY Road Cases for some much higher quality padding of that thickness. I like this site a lot as it is very educational. I do not always buy from them, but usually I do. They are also very kind and helpful on the phone.
https://www.diyroadcasesstore.com
For a thin musical instrument, you need a combination of two or three elastomers of differing stiffness for different levels of impact resistance. I will only have one, so it needs to be good for medium hits. If I am in a car wreck, the seats will supply a lot of the impact resistance, the shell will prevent deformation, and the stiffer elastomer in the case will absorb most of what is left if the impact is low energy enough to prevent the case shell from shattering. It is not ideal, but for a tuba in a backseat, it will be better than anything I have now. And this tuba cost enough to merit all this fuss.
So, anyway, such thin padding must be very stiff or hard, but still compressible. Styrofoam (as used in nearly all bubble-shell, plastic tuba cases today) works in the same manner (it compresses at impact), but it does not spring back, so if there is a hit to the case the padding must be replaced
because once compressed, styrofoam is ruined. ALL bike helmets (back in my NORBA days, at least) were lined with styrofoam and designed like a car's crush zones: absorb the energy of an impact through deformation, as cheaply as possible. But the result of this is the car's destruction. (Very small impacts will leave many cars today totaled out by insurance.) If you crashed your mountain bike and hit your head, your "brain box" was supposed to be replaced right away as it would no longer function to protect your head: one good impact with a tree or boulder, and it was structurally destroyed. It was a cheap, sacrificial way to prevent brain trauma if your moving head struck a stationary object.
The use of styrofoam has turned tuba hard cases into one-use impact protectors. I need my cases to survive MANY small impacts and still be able to take one that breaks the shell. So a very hard elastomer like that used in pre-hydraulic bike fork shocks (Manitou comes to mind) will make the case a lot more useful to me. The work is easy to do (only requiring a hot glue gun) even if it is a bit tedious, and the material is not all that costly.
I might opt to replace the latches, too, but these seem to be pretty decent. The valance and hinges likewise are good. The rubber feet and other bumper blocks, however, are solid
plastic and mark up my floor. I will also replace them with solid rubber feet, which DIY Road Cases also have in stock.
So why has this suddenly come up?
Some
butthole string picker at work put a ding in my YamaYork! Right in the bell flare. These are very thin and have been hardened in some way, so it is difficult to de-dent a sharp impact without marring the silver plating pretty badly. So the ding stays, and I am made grossly aware of how easy this tuba will be to dent at work while surrounded by idiot string players (who have damaged my tubas for the past 31 years). This means that I will be ditching my beloved gig bag for many services and (like Joe) will begin using this hard case, once I have pimped it out so that it does not fall apart due to a lot of use. If I get up to take a leak, the tuba goes into the case. If I have a tacet sheet: in the case. The case will live to the left of my chair at all times when we are not in the hall on our risers. After 31 years, none of our mindless 'cellists have figured out how to damage one of my horns when it is off the floor. So gig bag for all riser gigs, and my hard case for anything where the tuba will be on the floor.
These people drive me nuts. And NO, management has *never* been able to do anything about this. Only the physical intimidation of my bulk has had any inroads to these cud-chewers.
