When something has a M.A.P. of $10,966 and school bid pricing probably is only a couple thousand lower (if that), it seems to me that a tuba ought to be able to survive a few falls BECAUSE THAT WHAT HAPPENS TO SCHOOL TUBAS - even at "except at my kid's school" schools.
I fix (uninstall, straighten, silver braze, reinstall, polish, lacquer) this part on this "name brand" model of B-flat rotary tuba all they time; they fold and crack...
...and (due the the gauge of sheet metal) they dent as badly as do the recent-generation domestic sousaphones...dents, the size and type of which aren't seen on most rotary tubas - other than the Czech tubas to which Mark refers.
In the same price range, one can find a Meinl-Weston 25, a Miraphone 187 (if 5/4 rotary is absolutely what's desired) and (for little more than half) the JP379BB (which completely references the 25 - both in specs and quality).
Further, this stuff doesn't stay "fixed", as - year-after-year - there are always new kids who look one way and walk (run) through band rooms in contrary directions to the directioning their heads are facing. Thin metal IS going to crack sooner than thick metal - both due to being thin, and to being damaged more severely via the same levels of force.
I'd rather fix TWO tubas (with half the damage) for $500 + $500, rather than ONE of these for $1000...but I deal with more of these than I care to...
...and just because I end up making the same money either way doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to criticize ill-informed and non-researched buying decisions.
oh yeah: and detachable braces on school instruments are stupid, too (other than to possibly simplify manufacturing polishing and lacquering). After they've warped EVERYTHING and someone like me has straightened everything back out the best that it can be, those holes ain't all gonna line back up perfectly. Notice (last picture) that I simply un-soldered one half of one of those "detachable" ones.
