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I think the main thing about the Cool Wind is that it's a full size, reasonable sounding tuba that weighs in under 13 lbs. (So it's funny that the big online marketers call it 25 lbs, I guess mistakenly using the shipping weight here. I get 5.8 kg from the manufacturer's site.)

Maybe the key question here is "what situation could occur, where a tuba player could make the scene with a 13 lb Cool Wind, but not with a 20 lb 186?"

… I see that the price is creeping up in the poll.

I think that one problem that I have - when I sell tubas - is it I assume that other people won’t pay more than I will, and that almost always seems to be a miscalculation.

I might buy one out of curiosity, and I'd probably buy a used one in good working order. I'd mainly judge what I'd pay for it on what I think other people would pay for it, so I could pass it down the line when my curiosity is satisfied.

I'm realizing I go through a lot of horns in this way. I expect some other people do too. Maybe we could have a "axe of the month" club. Where we all play musical chairs and pass horns on to the next person so we all get to see what a plastic horn plays like. I'd also like to see what a good 186 plays like, since I've never played one. Might be more practical with smaller instruments.... or maybe that's why they invented elephant rooms at trade shows. Nevermind, I eventually talk myself out of bad ideas. Carry on.

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Mar 24, 2022 9:55 am me...?? I'm at $0000.00, but what price-point would motivate you to buy an undamaged one in working order?

Dunno, is the plastic from Chemnitz by way of Waldkraiburg? Maybe stateside-sourced via Texas wind-turbine maintenance?

Or does it come from a recycle center behind some wet market in...oh nevermind....

dp wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 9:39 amOr does it come from a recycle center behind some wet market in...oh nevermind....

' wrong BAT.

Once upon a time, satisfied my curiosity bu spending ~$500 on one with a cracked bell. i got close enough for me color matched duct tape, patched it up right good, and brought it to an outside band rehearsal a year and a half ago. It was useful as my car spent ~3 weeks quality time at a body shop after i hit a deer (that deer got up half a minute later, and gave me one angry look back over its shoulder before getting back to its life) so it being extra light made it easy to walk from the bus stop to rehearsal. I also left it for the week with the conductor (also a tubist) so as he could evaluate it, and it passed mustard as a band instrument. Plenty sound and reasonably easy to get it. (Helped a little by playing next to a truck in the parking lot, so not all the sound disappeared., but still okay) it may not be the best solo instrument out there, as not quite same ring to it as metal, but adequate.

I lent it to someone for the fall after that, and they put it to some real use, which ended up with a linkage breaking, and they got a replacement, but i haven't gotten round to installing it since they returned it.

Perhaps this here thread will motivate me to fix it... Still may take a while, so don't hold your breath.

I think one of the main problems with these instruments was in their first impressions. They were introduced in these garish colors that made them look like they weren't supposed to be taken seriously. Recently I have seen them in chrome-paint "silver." A vast improvement--it doesn't look like a toy.

I have played the recorder (blockflote, flauto dolce) off and on for decades. Although all of mine are wooden, I remember trying a Yamaha plastic one, once. It was in muted colors of brown and tan--not attempting to imitate wood, but keeping to the overall aesthetic. It sounded good, and looked like a real instrument, not like those crappy yellow ones I remember seeing in elementary school in the 60s. It made me rethink my uptight "real wood-or-nothing" bias.

One of the touted advantages of the Yamaha recorders was that being made by extrusion using a perfect mold, they were consistently high quality. Maybe we are in the "crappy yellow" phase of plastic tubas now, but better things may come.

The only drawback to plastic recorders is a potential for condensation to form on the fipple. I think many years ago investigations into these matters showed that the acoustically significant differences are things like nicely undercut tone holes. Which may be neglected in student instruments, if only because you don't want your cheap stuff to be too competitive with your expensive stuff.

The only drawback to plastic recorders is a potential for condensation to form on the fipple. I think many years ago investigations into these matters showed that the acoustically significant differences are things like nicely undercut tone holes. Which may be neglected in student instruments, if only because you don't want your cheap stuff to be too competitive with your expensive stuff.

I was returning some repairs to a charter school yesterday, and there are a few of those plastic trombones sitting around here and there – apparently purchased or accepted by a previous director. One of them had the F-attachment rotor tubing (rotor to gooseneck) broken in half, and the current band director - a trombonist - didn’t even bother to ask me if it was repairable.