Eastman Tubas??

[Toobist]

are there any chinese tubas that are comparable to miraphone 191in playability and quality? I read posts that yes and no. does anyone know for sure

According to Eastman's head of product development (or, at least what he told me when he spent the day with me last month), the next three "new" brass instruments in their pipeline are a double rotor bass trombone, a piccolo trumpet, and a 4 valve BBb rotary tuba modeled after the 191.

Woohoo! I told our rep that if Eastman came out with a bass bone, it'll be my next horn! I hadn't heard that! Thanks for the heads-up.

[pgym]

Although I have not seen an Eastman tuba I can say without hesitation that all of their instruments are not made by them. The trumpets are Jupiter. I service at least 5 of them a day along with about 10 Jupiters and will bet the house that they came from the same place. If not they are stunning copies and I am living out of my car. The TRUMPETS have held up very well through quite a few rental seasons.

Eastman owns all of its own factories. The reason that the trumpets look like Jupiter is because the brass factory in China is managed by a guy names Yung Fan, who, in his last position, was in charge of trumpets at Jupiter. He designed the line of Jupiter trumpets, and, Eastman's trumpets.

Yup.

And KHS (parent company to Jupiter) owns its own factories and does not sell its production to other manufacturers.

I'll have my attorney contact you tomorrow so that we can arrange the transfer of the deed on your house to me.

Too late. I've already served him with notice!

[Cameron Gates]

Eastman owns all of its own factories. The reason that the trumpets look like Jupiter is because the brass factory in China is managed by a guy names Yung Fan, who, in his last position, was in charge of trumpets at Jupiter. He designed the line of Jupiter trumpets, and, Eastman's trumpets.

Thanks for that info. Clears up a lot.

As for the Eastman trombone, I was refering to the student model POS, not the Shires creation. The student models we have would make any decent trombone player want to quit playing ASAP. Maybe the quality has changed in the last few months but I don't think it has. We put 100 of these things in the rental fleet a year ago and they are total garbage now. Of course, the purchase of 210 Eastman trumpets was very welcomed by the repair shop.

[pgym]

[Maybe the quality has changed in the last few months but I don't think it has.

Between Steve Shire's involvement with the intermediate and entry-level pro trombones and the significant upgrade to the quality of the Eastman trumpets, I suspect that it will be a case of a rising tide lifting all boats; so while I do not necessarily expect the current batch of student trombones to be significantly better than the TSOs of the past, I do expect that the ones coming off the assembly line 6 months from now will be markedly better than those currently for sale in the US.

[Jesse Brook]

We have a large fleet of the Eastman baritones and trombones, and one of the small tubas and one of the single horns has come across my repair desk. These do appear at first glance to be well put together. Here's a rundown (by instrument) of what I've observed.

Flutes: AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH run away. No. Not a good flute.

Trumpets: Good Jupiter copies. Terrible fabric cases. I'm glad they changed those. Student and Pro are competitive, Intermediate not as much.

French Horns: The basic single student model is not good. I'd put it right down there with a Roy Benson or a King 618. The doubles are a vast improvement over it.

Trombones: Avoid the ETB-310 with all your might. They play in the worse percentile of Chinese/Taiwanese trombones. ETB-432/420/422 are decent horns with terrible fabric cases. The Eastman by Shires are a pretty dang good trombone.

Baritones: I'm split on these. I like the way they play (about 90% of a Yamaha YBH-301 for 50% of the price), but I've seen so many bad solders on these. The valve stems are trouble, too, though being steel, at least they're durable. The price is too good to ignore.

Euphoniums: Very good. More like 95% of a Yamaha for 75% of the price. I've only seen the 3-valve.

Tubas: 231 is a Yamaha YBB 105 copy, and a pretty good one. It's not as unique as the Jupiter 378 with the removable valve section, but it is a decent player. I haven't seen the large Yamaclones.

Solders on these are all hit and miss. This is especially notable on the flute, unfortunately. The mechanicals are all up-to-date but the springs tend to be a bit mushy and lacking in feel. The water keys are made of a hard plastic, which is kind of odd and should be replaced with something a bit more supple. The lacquer is usually very well applied, but wears faster than normal for people with acidic sweat. Valves tend towards the balky side and rotor linkages and arms are kind of chunky and flimsy at the same time. With a bit of adjustment, these are amazing horns for the price, far better than a competitive Amati (more expensive). Their biggest problem is the increasing quality of the other Chinese horns. Parts support has improved from nonexistent to decent, recently. And that's one thing they've got: parts.

[Bandmaster]

I went to the NAMM Show this afternoon after one of the band's I play in performed a concert at Disneyland at noon. I figured I was so close it would be foolish not to go. Luckily I have a way to get a press pass anytime I need it.

I had two very pleasant surprises today that Jose didn't mention. Eastman had two horns that Jose apparently missed. A BBb copy of the King 2341 and a prototype CC 5-valve version of the same. Both played VERY well, and I mean VERY well. Their BBb clone plays better than the King 2341 that Conn had in their booth. Their salesman said that Steve Call was so impressed that he had asked about buying one. Their sousaphone still has a few bugs that need working out. When I gave it a little extra air the tone spread, it can't seem to handle the pressure.

No one has mentioned the tubas I saw in January at NAMM. They are not listed on the Eastman website so I am assuming they are prototypes and will be available sometime in the near future.

[Jose the tuba player]

I went to the NAMM Show this afternoon after one of the band's I play in performed a concert at Disneyland at noon. I figured I was so close it would be foolish not to go. Luckily I have a way to get a press pass anytime I need it.

I had two very pleasant surprises today that Jose didn't mention. Eastman had two horns that Jose apparently missed. A BBb copy of the King 2341 and a prototype CC 5-valve version of the same. Both played VERY well, and I mean VERY well. Their BBb clone plays better than the King 2341 that Conn had in their booth. Their salesman said that Steve Call was so impressed that he had asked about buying one. Their sousaphone still has a few bugs that need working out. When I gave it a little extra air the tone spread, it can't seem to handle the pressure.

No one has mentioned the tubas I saw in January at NAMM. They are not listed on the Eastman website so I am assuming they are prototypes and will be available sometime in the near future.

One of the salesman told me they were already ready for shipment and would be available next month (February), he said they don't update the website often,it would be better to check with stores that sell eastman tubas.

[Matt Walters]

Eastman has just posted a picture of the New EBB-534 BBb tuba on their website. It's a 4 valve front action piston tuba that looks alot like the King 2341. One positive note is the compression in the valves is tighter than a new King. Secondly, with nickel silver trim it has more bling than a King 2341. The two I have tried have been very favorable with the same great intonation as a King 2341 and easy response. I'd have no qualms with a private student saving a couple thousand dollars and getting a Eastman EBB534 instead of a King 2341.
Just waiting for the new batch to get here.