Important post for the tuba community

[Three Valves]

Had a nice long sit down conversation today with Eric Choe, president of Protec.

The conversation started about how much I liked a prototype French case he had there (coming out in August) so after I complimented him on that, I changed subjects

I told him that the tuba world all seemed to agree that his platinum tuba bag, is amazing for the quality to cost ratio, but it comes in a popular but hardly universal size. I asked him why he couldn't offer it in more sizes to give people an honest alternative to the $600 and higher gig bags that other companies offer.

His answer surprised me. He said that has has wanted to offer 3 more sizes, but he's confused about the non standardation of tuba sizes, and doesn't know where to start offering different sizes

He's directly asking you for input. He already has a bag designed to fit a miraphone 186, but if you list 3 more sizes that you think would satisfy the community, please list here what you think would come close to helping the most people

I have his email, and I will forward him the results. He seems genuine in his desire to improve his product selection

[DonO.]

They DEFINITELY should offer something for the 3/4 size tubas. Say around 16-16 1/2” bell and 34-35” high/long, proportioned appropriately in the other dimensions. Funny, bloke says he has mentioned this to them before. If they offered this size I’ll bet they’d sell a ton.

He is right to be confused. Cronkhite has 80+ different patterns. Any off the shelf case has to be a compromise. I think realistically he should be able to come up with compromise dimensions to reasonably fit a majority of 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, and 6/4 horns. That would be 4 sizes and I think that should be doable. The only ones left out would be the unusual ones, like Piggys and such.

[LeMark]

The funny thing is, a piggy is about 33 inches tall and has a 16 bell. It's just a matter of the plumpness of the tuba that would factor in if the piggy would fit in the bag you proposed

[arpthark]

Their current bag is billed as a 3/4 sized bag, but it is a bit roomy for most true 3/4 horns. Maybe they could offer a couple different sized pads for the smaller ones?

The sizes that come to mind would be something 186-ish, something King 2341/Eastman 632-ish, and something 6/4 Yorkophone sized. That leaves kind of a gap in the 5/4 size, but (guessing) most people buying Thors or PT-6s are probably springing for more expensive bags.

[Kevbach33]

If they tweaked their current bag by adding more room to the flare area (up to 20" bell), it could accommodate all the King style and 4/4 York style tubas. This size would also fit the compensating Eb basses and Piggy with enough padding, I think.

In addition to the 186 sized bag in the plan — again, with enough flare space to fit comp BBb tubas — I would suggest, like others have said, a small ¾ sized bag and a 6/4 York style bag, each with enough padding to accommodate smaller instruments (621-sized, including the Bombino for the small bag, and 5/4 instruments for the big bag).

The 3rd bag to suggest is tricky... I know the large Gold series bag (241) was built with the old (1241) King tubas (~45" tall, up to 22" bell) in mind, but can it fit a true Kaiser tuba (same dimensions but with more girth)? If not, there's potential here for a Platinum bag.

The other option I thought of was a true F tuba bag that would fit a Symphonie and similar sized tubas. This could be a hit for those not wanting a top loading Miraphone bag at a reasonable price.

So there's 4 options from me. One other thing I'd highly suggest looking at, no matter the model, is the backpack straps and how the bag fits on the body. Many of us have quipped on how the bags hit the back of the legs, something that doesn't happen with me and my Gard bag.

[LeMark]

A bag to fit the king/York/and all of the Eastman versions that size would be nice, but 5h4 current bag is at least 8 inches too long for those horns to fit and and not allow the horn to drift inside

[DonO.]

Their current bag is billed as a 3/4 sized bag, but it is a bit roomy for most true 3/4 horns. Maybe they could offer a couple different sized pads for the smaller ones?

The sizes that come to mind would be something 186-ish, something King 2341/Eastman 632-ish, and something 6/4 Yorkophone sized. That leaves kind of a gap in the 5/4 size, but (guessing) most people buying Thors or PT-6s are probably springing for more expensive bags.

Yes! Their “3/4” size bag has an 18” bell and is 40” long WITH the pad! 42” without! Does that sound like any 3/4 size tuba that anyone here has ever heard of? I want them to make a TRUE 3/4 size bag. Actually, I don’t give a you know what anymore. I ordered a Cronkhite for mine because it’s the only way I could get a bag that fits right. A $600 bag for a tuba I only paid a thousand for. Makes no sense, I know. But I want what I want. I would have bought a much cheaper Protech or Gard if either of them made anything approaching the right size. Gard actually makes one that ended up being too small for my tuba. Probably made to fit a Yamaha 103.

[gocsick]

Tell them the first priority should be to raise the backpack strap of their current bags. I absolutely hate the one I have for my MW20.. the bottom bow snacks the back of my knees when I walk. The Miraphone top loader doesn't have this problem... it did nice and high on my back.

[bloke]

I don't think you're going to get some amazing selection of size of bags nor superb quality in the 250 buck price range.

I suspect if they're really interested in offering more sizes of low cost bags, they would have already done the research, because it isn't really hard to figure it out.

[tofu]

Thinking a bit outside the box or should we say inside the bag

Perhaps on the bell end of the bag how about utilizing a stretchable fabric that would enclose a 16 in or 18 in bicycle tube inside the bell end -max sized to accommodate a 20.25 in maximum bell (which covers all the king 2341 style horns) with some inflation but but could be further inflated to close the gap small enough for say a 15 in bell which covers a lot of Eb & F horns. The rubber bicycle tube offers lightweight cushion for absorbing impacts to the case on bell end and adds little weight to the case. Since it can be inflated to various levels and deflated allowing the case to be used for a greater variety of bell sizes as the tube would expand or contract to encapsulate around the bell rim. Probably no more weight than foam cushion and a lot less than wood or the panels that bags like Miraphone use. Getting it wet would not affect it at all which is positive vs other bags. Bicycle tubes are cheap and easy to procure. Engineering the best way of enclosing the tube in flexible fabric on the bell end so that it was also easy to take out & replace should it develop a leak would need to be figured out but definitely doable. He certainly would be able to offer something his competition doesn’t have.

[Sousaswag]

Something that REALLY fits XL 6/4 sized tubas… NO, not the 836, Nirschl, etc, but…

Holton 345
MW 2165
Martin Mammoth
Conn 6/4’s
Etc

These 6/4, and then some, tubas are a challenge to find something that fits WELL. I have one of their really large 22” bell bags, but it’s much too long for the Holton 345.

[donn]

I love bicycle innertubes for various alternative purposes. They're elastic, strong and durable. (For tuba luggage, when I got my current tuba with a broken case and fixed that case up, I used dissected bicycle innertubes for corner seam bumpers.) What I'm not so sure I get, is the stretchy fabric part. Also, when inflated past bicycle tire size, expansion is not symmetric - there's invariable a lot of bulging. Inflatable air cushioning is a very appealing direction, just not seeing the full picture.

Maybe the bag could ship with a set of inflatable modules that adapt to the tuba, and a little basketball pump. Your case would be the next larger size, but the excess would just be air.

If I may grumble about posting etiquette ... subject titles ideally ought to offer some clue about the subject.

[MiBrassFS]

I don’t really use gig bags very often, but I would think they’d sell a bag made to correctly fit a Yamaha 103 and all the derivatives. The very young and very old would buy them… and I might buy one, too! Heh, heh…

[LeMark]

I don't think you're going to get some amazing selection of size of bags nor superb quality in the 250 buck price range.

I suspect if they're really interested in offering more sizes of low cost bags, they would have already done the research, because it isn't really hard to figure it out.

Have you seen the current platinum series bag? It's actually really nice. Nothing like their gold series

[bloke]

Those are nice enough, but they're still not California nice. I'm only commenting because I own a set of really nice bags. I've posted enough about this that you know I no longer use them.

[BramJ]

I don't think you're going to get some amazing selection of size of bags nor superb quality in the 250 buck price range.

I suspect if they're really interested in offering more sizes of low cost bags, they would have already done the research, because it isn't really hard to figure it out.

Have you seen the current platinum series bag? It's actually really nice. Nothing like their gold series

I have no experience with the Platinum bags, how do they compare with Miraphone (or Soundline, they make the miraphone bags) bags?

[BramJ]

Completely different animal, they are side loading bags with lots of pockets and thick padding. They have a better sheet of protection on both the Bell and the underside where the feet are. They also have much better zippers than the miraphone bag. I own a blue top loader and it's not a very good bag

[bloke]

I can't remember the brand name, but an interesting idea was those bags that probably quit being made quite a few years ago that had a thick sheet of plastic rolled around everything else underneath the cordura nylon.
Of course, they had to be top loading to have this rolled up thick plastic embedded in them. Another problem was that the thick sheet of plastic made them weigh something between a regular bag weight and a hard case weight. The additional weight taxed the carrying handles, and sometimes they would fail.

[LeMark]

You're probably thinking about Dolly bags but they did offer side loading Dolly bags as well. I know because I had one

I had one for about 20 years and the only issue I ever had with it was the zipper need to be replaced which Dolly did for free because I sent it back to her

[bisontuba]

They should ask Baltimore Brass, Dillon Music, etc. what models they sell the most off...and then get their sizes, and use that as a reference...just my 2 cents...