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dave · Post by **dave** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:01 am

I have to say that I think your travel dollars would be a lot better spent travelling to San Jose and visiting Tony Clements, than a trip to WWBW. Tony not only has a better selection of great horns, like the Gronitz and Alexander, he will take the time to work with you and won't sell you something you don't need.

I used to be a big fan of WWBW, and bought several horns from them, but after their change of ownership a few years ago, all the good deals just disappeared. Now if they have a low price it is for a reason, you
probably would not want that horn.

Dave

CJ Krause · Post by **CJ Krause** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:15 am

Tortuba · Post by **Tortuba** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:29 am

I see that you are located in Whitby. I live in Toronto, and I would recommend that you consider a trip to Dillon Music in New Jersey. I was there in the spring and it was a fairly easy trip to make. You can grab a cheap flight on Jetsgo into Newark airport and catch a cab to Dillons in Woodbridge New Jersey. The cab ride is less than a half hour. Just make sure you take a map for the cabbie!

Or you can drive it. There are maps on the Dillon Music website. Probably takes 6 to 7 hours from Whitby.

I would call ahead and talk to Matt Watters ( see their website for the number) and let him know when you going and what you'r looking for. He is very accomodating, gracious, knowledgeable and helpful. He let me spend a couple of hours honking on horns, and would come around once in awhile to see if I wanted to try anything else. There was no pressure to make a desicion to buy and he's more than willing to discuss the pros and cons of any horn in the shop.

Dillons has a fine reputation with the members of this BBS, and I'm sure most, if not all, would recommend Dillons.

Feel free to email me if you want more info.

Alex Reeder · Post by **Alex Reeder** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 2:01 pm

I can second the vote for Dillon's. That is a great place to look. They have new tubas, lots of used tubas, too. Not only high-end Hirsbrunners. This is probably too far for you, but Baltimore Brass is a really great place also.

I have not had the best experience with Custom Music. They have exclusive deals for certain brands and will charge a lot for those because the buyer has no other choices. I bought a tuba from them that was damaged in shipping due to poor packing. They charged me over $500 for a case thay said was designed for my horn but was a piece of crap. I sent it back and had them send me a different one because I was sure there had been a mistake and I had recieved the wrong case. It had very little padding and all in the wrong places. When I put the horn inside and picked it up, the tuba would slip and shake around in the case.

When I recieved the second case, it was exactly the same. I was really mad! I decided just to keep it and deal with it because, again, for this brand of tuba (it was a Perantucci) I had no other choice. I had to add my own padding and make braces to hold the tuba out of styrofoam. After about two weeks of use the wheels buckled in and one fell off. It was a total piece of crap that I paid big money for.

Others may have had better luck, but I thought I would tell my story as a warning.

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 2:02 pm

schlepporello wrote:I bought my Miraphone 187 from WW & BW. List price at the time of my purchase was $8995 US. I paid $4995 US. Had I gone through my local sources, I can asure you I would have paid the list price.

Does anyone actually ever pay list price for any musical instrument? I always thought of list price as the number that the manufacturer put on an instrument to allow the dealer to look like they are giving you a bargain when they sell for what is a reasonable profit for them. I grew up in the NYC metro area, and even as a teenager remember going to Manny's and being quoted between a 30-40% "discount" off of list as the normal price, and we all knew that Manny's wasn't the cheapest around.

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:45 pm

LV wrote:2) Be fairly certain (focused) on which horns you want to try, but don't rule out surprises

I'd amend that to "Be certain on which category you want to try", as in wanting to only try 4/4-ish BBb and CC tubas, or sub-$6000 tubas, etc. Put aside any expectations of what any particular brand will play like, especially since the resulting sound ultimately doesn't have a manufacturer's engraved name.

And, like DP said, be extremely certain of what your current horn does that holds you back -- if anything at all. I didn't even start to consider buying a new tuba until I could quantitatively say which problems were my fault and which were shortcomings of the instrument (and which I was tiring of correcting).

winston · Post by **winston** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:22 am

Tubadork · Post by **Tubadork** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:42 am

Sorry for the late posting,
but Dillon is also a great choice. I've bought 2 horns from them and they were real cool whenever I was there. And they are from my home state NEW JERSEY (hell yeah!!)
http://www.newjerseyrocks.com/links.htm
Bill Pritchard

ebtubasrock · Post by **ebtubasrock** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:12 pm

I am also in the GTA area (actually just outside it, in Port Hope), and have been looking around for horns in the area. (I am only an amature, mind you, far from a professional player).

I would also recommend you try St. John's Music. Although I haven't bought a tuba from them (just a Sax for my wife), I have talked to them about tubas (and they have worked on my Boosey and Hawkes Eb Regent) and have been happy with them so far.

Other than them, from what I have found there isn't a lot else around this area. (I'm not a big fan of Long and McQuade, although their Whitby store is nice, or Cosmo) Before I do decide to purchase, I am planning on going to either WW&BW or Dillons, to try a few options, just to see what I find.

Leland · Post by **Leland** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:25 pm

winston wrote:I also need one for university next year, not to get the thread on a different subject, but the profs these days seem to be pretty bias against people who don't play CC

What I enjoy doing is playing somewhere and having people say, "That tuba sounds nice -- is it a CC?" Sorry, but nope, it's a BBb.

To paraphrase a joke (although I'm not sure what the original could have been anymore!):

How many tuba professors does it take to change a light bulb?

"Change?? Who said anything about CHANGE?!?!?"

winston · Post by **winston** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:47 pm

Roger Lewis · Post by **Roger Lewis** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 3:18 pm

A coupe of things to remember that I post from time to time about prices: many manufacturers now tell us what price we are allowed to ADVERTISE on our site and in our catalogue - it is probably unlikely that this is the actual "sell-for" price but we are required to do it to maintain a relationship with the suppliers. Some manufacturers don't even allow us to put any price in our catalogue or site if you look through them. Call me for prices and I will do the best I can for you. It also is very helpful to let me know what you are looking for so I can make sure it is in stock. I don't want anyone to drive for 10 hours and not have the horn they are looking for on hand at that time. That's a waste for everyone.

As to how things work with me, if you don't need a horn you will have to talk me into selling it to YOU. I won't lie to anyone and I won't sell junk. I have to live with myself first, I don't want anyone to have to go through a negative buying experience as I have myself in the past. I know what it's like to be HAD and I won't do that to anyone.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line at rlewis@wwbw.com. I am still in Europe and did not trust the electricity in the hotel in Budapest after someone fried a curling iron and a silent brass system. It make take a day or two to get back to you but I will reply.

Have a great one.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 7:36 pm

Not a slam against any one firm, but I wonder if there are "understood" policies with certain of the large music dealers when asked to send out an instrument.

My wife got on a waiting list for a new bass flute with a major retailer. She wasn't given a firm date of availability, just that she'd receive one when it came in.

Well, her flute arrived, but the serial number on the flute didn't match the one on the invoice (a quick call immediately informed the dealer of this) and, upon closer inspection, she noted that some of the plating was already down to copper and that the embouchure hole was bored at a slant (i.e. non-tangentially).

She sent the flute back and a replacement was promised.

But I wonder, is this sort of thing done intentionally in hopes that the customer will simply elect to "live with" a dog, where a customer at the store might be more picky?

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Re: reason for buying tuba

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