Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Trying to get back in the saddle.
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scottw
- 5 valves
- Posts: 1519
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 8:39 am
- Location: South Jersey
Welcome back! Your instincts are good---go for a used Mirafone! They are reasonably priced, hold up great, keep their value like no Chinese ISO (That would be an Instrument Shaped Object, in the words of Lee Stofer!), and play as well across the line as any tuba on the market. I recommend you contact some of the other tuba sellers here on the board, preferably by phone--reason being that there are horns not listed on their web page that are available oftimes. People like Bloke, Lee Stofer, Matt Walters at Dillon Music, David Fedderly at Baltimore Brass, Tony Clements, Roger Lewis,Dan Schultz,etc. can pick out and ship a wonderful horn and you will have confidence that you are getting a really good horn. Or, invest a few goonies and fly to one of these stores and pick one out for yourself. I also recommend NOT going the e-bay route if you don't absolutely have to; you may get lucky, then again you may not, and the cost is just too high. There are horns listed in the "for sale section here, too, that you may want to look into.
Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Bearin' up!
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sloan
- On Ice
- Posts: 1827
- Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:34 pm
- Location: Nutley, NJ
first one is temporary - don't sweat it
Welcome back. Only 15 years? I was off (on vacation) for 25 years.
It simply does not matter what tuba you purchase right now. If you want a cosmetic beauty and can write the check - feel free. If you want a "player", it sounds to me as if your best bet is a used 186.
More important is getting back up to speed and (most important) finding a group or three to play in. One hour of rehearsal with a good ensemble is worth a week of scales in the basement (but, you'll need that too...)
Within the next 5 years, you will have refined your needs, and will have well-formed ideas about what sort of tuba(s) you need. You can either sell the first one (here...a good playing used tuba will hold its value much better than a new-looking horn at the same price point) or keep it for situations where you don't want to risk your new tuba. Or, you may buy something radically different (bigger, smaller, old-fashioned, new and fancy, different key, etc.) and need to keep both.
Think of it as a collection of tubas, and you are just buying the first (of many) this year. You'll buy all of the others...later.
It simply does not matter what tuba you purchase right now. If you want a cosmetic beauty and can write the check - feel free. If you want a "player", it sounds to me as if your best bet is a used 186.
More important is getting back up to speed and (most important) finding a group or three to play in. One hour of rehearsal with a good ensemble is worth a week of scales in the basement (but, you'll need that too...)
Within the next 5 years, you will have refined your needs, and will have well-formed ideas about what sort of tuba(s) you need. You can either sell the first one (here...a good playing used tuba will hold its value much better than a new-looking horn at the same price point) or keep it for situations where you don't want to risk your new tuba. Or, you may buy something radically different (bigger, smaller, old-fashioned, new and fancy, different key, etc.) and need to keep both.
Think of it as a collection of tubas, and you are just buying the first (of many) this year. You'll buy all of the others...later.
Kenneth Sloan
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DonShirer
- 4 valves
- Posts: 571
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Westbrook, CT
Welcome aboard! With only fifteen years off, you ought to be back in the saddle (hows that for mixing metaphors) toot suite. I was brassed out for 49 years until I retired and got the urge again. I picked up a pretty good tuba on eBay, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you get a caring and knowledgeable seller (and how can you be sure of that?). I echo the previous thoughts about a good used tuba being the best investment, and especially second Sloan's comment about finding a group to play with. There's a world of difference in playing for Canadian Brass music minus one CD's and playing with a live group, especially one with a knowledgable leader. Good luck.
Don S.
Don S.