TubaForum.net

I FINALLY now have a not-bulky, well-made, and good-condition hard case for for my F tuba (the tuba having been bought new by me, 41 years ago).

I've been putting off re-lacquering the tuba. (The original lacquer was (at first gorgeous, but) a very thin coat of nitrocellulose lacquer.

Now that I have a protective hard case (vs. an expensive padded sack), I don't have an excuse - anymore - to not pick over it, shine it up, and shoot some new clear on it, do I ?

This case is probably about the same age as my tuba, but sports no cracks, and the interior blue velvet lining is immaculate.
The wheels are still good, and I just replaced both handles (same style but real leather-over-rope, rather than plastic imitations of leather-over-rope, whereby the plastic ones - "back then" - quickly broke).

bloke,
This belongs in the "Repair" forum.

Maybe...but I haven't started repairing the tuba...and all I'm going to do to is will be to address a few shallow pings, shine it up, and shoot it.

In "case" anyone wasn't aware, Jakob Winter cases are (arguably) the " of Molded Tuba Cases"
(anyway...I prefer them over any of the others, and they are NOT inexpensive. (example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134299995937 )
I managed a trade (for something I didn't need, and which I was given) for this case.
(Good things come to those who wait...??)





I almost had a chance to give this case a test run, this-coming well. (An orchestra-sponsored brass quintet - of which I am a part - was offered some more nursing/convalescent home toot-'n'-scoot Christmas programs, but the notice was too short, and we all (a couple of us who live over 140 miles away in two different directions) just couldn't coordinate those engagements.

Check that one off the list!

What's next?!

I still have the other Winter case (bought from a German eBay seller) that's also really nice and that fits like a glove other than the bell, but only accommodates a 15-in bell. I've got a Bohemian 15-in bell F tuba in the attic that plays sharp, but has room to add two left hand rotors which will not only fix the pitch but also elevate the horizontal portion of the mouthpipe so as to cross in the preferred place across the upper bow. I guess once I finally have that instrument fixed up and ready for sale, I'll have a nice case to offer with it.
It looks a lot like Alexander, except I think it's .689" bore instead of .709". In other words, it's not that Cerveny thing that other people have owned, but it is something else.

I bought a new one with my Alex - really good case! Wish I could find one for my 184 and 186 eventually - not going to buy a new one for those!

Stryk wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2023 6:16 pm I bought a new one with my Alex - really good case! Wish I could find one for my 184 and 186 eventually - not going to buy a new one for those!

I believe the spare one will fit your 184. Let me know. I bought it for a low price, but had to pay shipping from Europe. That having been said, shipping from Europe is cheaper than shipping to Europe. If I can break even and you would cover shipping or find somebody who will schlep it down to Pensacola from here, we can probably make a deal.
Better yet, once your Christmas stuff has calmed down, and everyone is home from whatever visiting they've done, consider coming up here to get it and visiting with us for a few days. We have room for you.

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2023 5:49 pm I still have the other Winter case (bought from a German eBay seller) that's also really nice and that fits like a glove other than the bell, but only accommodates a 15-in bell. I've got a Bohemian 15-in bell F tuba in the attic that plays sharp, but has room to add two left hand rotors which will not only fix the pitch but also elevate the horizontal portion of the mouthpipe so as to cross in the preferred place across the upper bow. I guess once I finally have that instrument fixed up and ready for sale, I'll have a nice case to offer with it.
It looks a lot like Alexander, except I think it's .689" bore instead of .709". In other words, it's not that Cerveny thing that other people have owned, but it is something else.

Don’t mean to move in on Terry, but would this case fit my Packer 379 Bb?

It might go in to this case and the case might close, but I think this case is too long for that instrument, you'd have a bunch of inches between the bottom bow of the tuba and the bottom bow of the case.

I've had fun borrowing the World's Best Thor, so now I need you to sell the World's Best Symphonie to someone in New England after you soup it up so I can harrass them and borrow it, too.

Anyone who's got $50,000 to spend with me can buy it at any time.

I have 2 Besson branded (brown with red interior) Winter cases, one for the Besson 794 and the other for the shorter 994GS, but the case outside dimensions are the same

The 794 usually stays in the rehearsal room, so it is in the case, and otherwise the rehearsal room is at walking distance so I roll it home.

The 994GS's case is in storage and I use a gigbag. The cases for these Besson's are just huge and I cannot fit it in the trunk of my car (and it's not a small car, older model BMW X3), I have to drop half of the rear seat down or put it on the rear seats. But those spots are usually taken by the child seats, don't want to remove those multiple times a week.

In the brass band the other Besson 994 player does use the case, but after rolling it on pavement for many years with the small, hard wheels the hinges and latches are destroyed and really need replacing. The newer cases use bigger wheels that are spaced further apart, those are a big improvement

I've really never used wheels on cases very much, even though most cases seem to have been featuring them for a few decades now. About the only time I'll use them is when I'm indoors and the surface is a floor or smooth concrete. Running them across rough asphalt, coarse finish concrete, and bumping them up curbs and things is going to define that any sort of case wheels are going to tear up in weeks or months, and it's whether the case wheels are large or small. The only types of wheels that could be expected to hold up under those types of conditions / uses/surfaces would be the types of wheels on two-wheel dollies and such, and not only are those wheels made for that type of use, but dollies themselves are structurally made for that type of use - where is tuba cases feature neither the structure strength nor the types of wheels that are made for tracking along those types of surfaces.
I pull up at a/the stage door, take my instruments inside, and then go park. All of this not only makes it easier on me, but it makes things easier on my cases and my instruments, and it also greatly reduces the chance of having a gun stuck in my face and having my instruments taken away from me. For decades now, I haven't bought any sedans - being that I'm a tuba player. My current car is a Toyota Matrix with an incredible space in the back that's able to be folded down flat. Also, I usually park pretty nicely within the painted lines which define parking spaces, so I don't think I'd be a very good BMW owner.

If I fold down the seat I can carry 2 tubas, but no kids..

It's nice not having to use indicators or park correctly, people expect it from me as a BMW driver


I am more of a Toyota driver to be honest, my other car is a Toyota Auris but we needed a bigger car and this BMW used to be owned by my wife's grandfather, so it was cheap

The main point - aside from all the funny trolling rhetoric - is that I just don't expect case wheels to be able to be used for very many types of applications, and tend to avoid using them.

Case wheels - in regards to usefulness in transport - are analogous to padded sacks - in regards to usefulness in instrument protection.

BramJ wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 7:34 am

In the brass band the other Besson 994 player does use the case, but after rolling it on pavement for many years with the small, hard wheels the hinges and latches are destroyed and really need replacing. The newer cases use bigger wheels that are spaced further apart, those are a big improvement

The Besson994 player could always go to the hornbach for a steekwagen (dollie as Bloke suggested)

I used it for a many year after the wheels had gone.

For people who insist on padded sacks, it seems to me that even a light duty dolly and a couple of bungee cords would do pretty nicely if they insisted on parking their car and not dropping the tuba off at the stage door first.

Still, they are subjecting themselves to robbery and the real possibility of things slipping around with the tuba-in-a-sack (even with bungees) falling off the dolly.

Some of the sturdier dollies feature a curved vertical surface that would probably support a tuba in a sack better.