After getting a new tuba in house, a 5/4 Rudy Meinl CC, formerly played by Cameron Brook, I've found some slight inconveniences with the bag and road case that came with it.
First of all, the instrument is playing perfectly. After having lived a long life (some 15 years) in a professional orchestra, though with very good care, it isn't looking brand new, you have to look close to see that it's not new. It is in very good shape, and I'd like to keep it like that for many years to come.
The very heavy duty road case that came with it is marvellous, and protects the tuba well. The only negative thing about it is that it weighs 59 kg with the tuba in it, and is quite hard to lug around. To make matters even harder, it doesn't have wheels on it. The gigbag is an old factory standard Rudf Meinl bag, that for my everyday use seems a bit too thin to offer the protection I want.
Next year the Norwegian National Wind Orchestra (where I play) is attending the WASBE conference in Taiwan, and I need to sort out tuba transportation a good time in advance. Cameron has a very good solution for transporting his new tuba in the orchestra, which he introduced in an earlier post here on TubeNet. It mainly consists of a Soundwear bag, and a tailored road case to fit the tuba inside the bag. I'll head for a solution like this, but before I decide on what to do, I thought I'd share my thoughts with you guys, so that I might end up with an even better solution. As everyone knows, many heads thinks better than two (Cams and mine).
This picure shows how Camerons current setup is.
Camerons case is made for a life on the road, whereas mine will be almost strictly for flying. As far as bags are concerned, Soundwear's largest model in the professional series, and Cronkhite is the two options that I've narrowed down to. The Soundwear bag will offer better protection, but is more bulky than the Cronkhite. Price difference is not an issue at all. My heart says Cronkhite, but the sense cries out for Soundwear.
Which one would you choose?
With a Cronkhite bag, the flight case would need a bit more customization to hold the bag and tuba better than if I choose the Soundwear. At least that's what seems natural.
I've also heard that Soundwear isn't making bags for tubas anymore, but I've found a few in stock so thats not an issue either.
Looking forward to your responses!