Is searching for that perfect-horn-for-you a waste of time?

[tubatooter1940]

A Musical instrument,like any other expensive tool,should be bought when it is needed.Extra any thing that is not needed has to be stored,maintained and justified to lady of the house.
Your friendly Fart Man

[Leland]

I like to think of the analogy that tubas are like technology. As time goes on tubas, like anything technological, are going to be improving in design and quality.

In a technological sense, I compare tubas to computers: "Garbage in, garbage out."

[Dan Schultz]

I have a couple of pretty nice horns that satisfy most all of my tuba-playing needs. However, I will continue to play every horn I can and i will buy... sell... and trade my way to other horns. A horn that suits the pros might not work for me. Do all the pros play the same horn? Noooooo. There's nothing wrong with buying a horn to 'try' as long as you can be sure you will be able to get your money back out of it.

[Ryan_Beucke]

I have a couple of pretty nice horns that satisfy most all of my tuba-playing needs. However, I will continue to play every horn I can and i will buy... sell... and trade my way to other horns. A horn that suits the pros might not work for me. Do all the pros play the same horn? Noooooo. There's nothing wrong with buying a horn to 'try' as long as you can be sure you will be able to get your money back out of it.

I agree with this. There's nothing wrong with playing a lot of horns to find one that works best for you. You shouldn't let it interfere with your practicing time, but realistically, how often does ANYBODY actually sacrifice time that they would've been practicing by trying out a horn? I think that you should play on the best instrument for you that you can afford within reason. However, the downside is that if you actually are switching horns frequently, you won't be able to really get to know a horn very well.

[Matt Walters]

The first PERFECT tuba that comes through the store, is getting bought by me! In over 10 years, I've never incountered that tuba. As it is, the tuba I have is far better than I deserve. In defense of us amatuers with good equipment, it makes our lives easier. A secure, easy to play horn with good sound and intonation is all most of us need.

Then again, it's the people with the "Maybe there is something better out there." mentality that keeps the divorce lawyers, used car salesmen, used tuba pages, and the rest of our economy busy.

[MaryAnn]

Six or seven years ago I lucked into a slightly used custom German French horn, and I bought it. It was especially nice because of the ergonomics, which were/are considerably better than any other horn I've played. Others are "ok" ergonomics but this one is fantastic. Luckily for me it also is a very fine professional horn; I've had several people offer to buy it on the spot after they played it. But....I've played other horns that have an easier high range, for example; if I could put the ergonmonics of this horn along with the extraordinary high range of another horn....it would be closer to perfect. But I'm sticking with this one; I'm used to it, which took about a year of playing, and really don't want the hassle of that fine-tuned learning of the response of another instrument.

MA

[Chuck(G)]

I don't know about the "perfect horn", but it's the variety that makes it fun and interesting for me.

[Lew]

The first tuba that I owned was a King 2341 (2 piece) that I bought after 18 years of not having played. I made the mistake of visiting Dillon Music and found a horn that I had to have to replace it. I then replaced that horn with the new 1 piece King 2341 shortly after it came out.

As an amateur, I'm probably no better off than if I had kept the first King, but I am keeping this one. I still periodically play test other horns, but I have realized that there is no reason to trade until I am limited by the music I can make on the horn that I have. I never expect that to happen.
I really loved the way the Miraphone 1291 (BBb) played, but if I had bought it it would have only been to have the next new thing. It would have had no impact on my playing.

I did buy a Besson 983 to add a bass tuba and because I wanted to learn Eb, but not because I wanted to replace the King. All of the other horns I have are for fun or variety, but the quest for the perfect horn is a fool's errand.

[Leland]

I'm not certain about the statement made that tubas will get better as the technology increases.

I agree -- there's not a whole lot to do to improve how a tuba plays.

If there's anything that technological advances can improve upon, it's in construction, valve materials, and things like that. None of that affects a tuba's playability, though.

[tubaman5150]

There always seems to be two popular ways to react to the latest craze about some "miracle tuba" and the constant search for them.
1. Those who jump on the bandwagon and immediately sell the last miracle tuba to get the new one (and those who want to, but can't afford to).
2. Those who bought the miracle tuba back in the day, and according to them, their miracle tuba is better than all the new ones and this goes for yours too, pal! They never hesitate to harshly criticize those that jump on the bandwagon for being so blind to this.

I know not everyone is like this. I now know why. Read on:

I have fell victim in the past to the type "1" brand of consumer tuba whore-ism. I started out with two great tubas. Before this, I had only an small, inexpensive tuba. It played well, but wasn't anything I saw the "pros" playing and all the folks online said the brand I had was "bad".
So what did I do....?
I proceeded to buy a nice new 5/4 CC piston tuba and a monster piston F tuba to match. The thing was, is that these tubas played great. Not necessarily alot better than my old one, but really good. So I kept them for good while. I liked the way I sounded on them and so did all my colleagues.
Then the floodgates opened...
I thought if those tubas were good, these next tubas have got be better, right? The people online said they were. So, over the next two years I continued to buy, sell, and trade. After a awhile, they all played about the same. In fact, since I got rid of the original two, I didn't get the same compliments I once got. Many of the new miracle tubas I was trying turned out to be real stinkers. It was like I couldn't tell good tuba from a bad one anymore. Was there really a difference?
Yes and no.
After all my tuba misgivings, I found that the ones I sounded best on..........were the ones I orginally bought.
How 'bout that?
I was lucky enough to get some tubas back that were close to the originals. This came, of course, at considerable expense.
Boy...I sure did feel stupid. All those tubas I had...most of which played very good and would have served me well. It was my own lust that blinded me the truth. The truth that there are no miracle tubas. There are only the tubas I like and sound good on. A very simple and obvoius point to many of you, but you would be surprised how easy it was to fall victim to this.
In conclusion, I find that some time spent up front shopping is time well spent. After that, its all up to the player. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Not by half.
What I've just said is true. I didn't make this up. Not one word of it. I lost alot of money just being a tuba whore. In fact, I bet there are plenty of others who have story like this.
Sad but true.

[bort]

It just depends on your needs. I've been out of college for about 2 years, and just bought my first horn last summer. I spent a little while testing horns, but really not much time at all.

Why? Because having a horn was better than having no horn. Basically, it's something that is pretty good, and will hold me over until I find my "perfect horn."