Price Increases

[bigbob]

I don't see that Chinese knock-offs of western-R&D models won't "last". It's just that they aren't as "good".



In the meantime, there are some great mouthpieces and other improvements are being developed, people like Martin Wilk are finding ways to make "great" tubas blow even better...and western manufacturers (rather than entering into licensing agreements with people like Mr. Wilk) are continuing to "conglomerate", and (yes) moving their "student" models' manufacturing over to...
...China. :|Why didn't you add your name there bloke?? I hear you make a mighty fine Mouthpiece!Don't yours make a great tuba sound better??..Intonation.. is that when your horn blends with the other instruments?Resonance? is that how much sound you can produce??Beautiful sound is it only older horns that have it ? and is some of that the player?? I know some of these questions sound stupid but before I entered this site I didn't even know that there were 6/4 horns!<S>..........BB ..still trying to understand<s>

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*That having been said, it seems to me that many of the new high-end tuba models of western (European) design either emphasize resonance (decibels) or improved intonation...with very few of them putting an emphasis on "bel canto" (beautiful sound). I find that most of the tubas which are capable of producing the most beautiful sounds were manufactured in the past. (This same trend tends to go for other families of top-drawer wind instruments as well - trombones, bassoons, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, etc...)

[Lingon]

...My worry about Chinese brasses is that they are made in areas without a profound and first hand rooting in a cultural tradition relevant to Wester type brasses...

That I think is a relevant and important point. However, that was also true for the Japanese stuff in the beginning of for example Yamaha's, or Nikkan, journey in to brass instrument making. There were also copying and other issues in the beginning but today we rank them as maybe not state of the art but many praise their instruments for their high quality and evenness. So maybe as time goes by the Chinese will also get there. Remember they are Asians. Not all off them alike, but they have had a long history with a culture that were a lot more developed than our. While waiting for the times to come I continue to get my pay playing my excellent Chinese bass and contrabass trombones. Not for money I also continue playing my not so excellent but perfectly apartment sized CC tuba