Looks like the horn I played on for HS/MS cept that you have all you spit valve intact--mine had screws welded in the holes for some reason. And the 3rd valve slide fell to pieces if you for some reason removed. On the other hand of the horns I've played was probably the best sounding (cept perhaps the St. Petersburg) even though it leaked a lot of air through the--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now who here plays on something worse then this?
http://tinypic.com/la4bn
http://tinypic.com/la4d2
http://tinypic.com/la5o0
yes I play on that, and no it doesnt' sound like a garbage can. this is temp, but really its not a bad tuba.. and yes thats duct tape on the bottom..
screws welded in the spit valves and broken 3rd valve slide.
I have noticed a trend which, as a repairman and musician, bothers me a lot. This trend is towards giving even less money for the repair budgets for schools. This means that all these instruments that can be made into better playing tubas, baritones, bass clarinets, etc. don't get fixed, and then get into even worse shape. The bottom line is that kids are going to quit band because of the inability to improve on these instruments, which is really a shame.
When I was in high school (class of 1999), we had Yamaha 321 BBb's, which I didnt' care for the sound I got with one. So one day, I went digging in the storage room, and found a Conn 24J. I asked why we weren't using these, and the band director said, "No money in the budget to fix these, so we bought new ones."
I'm gonna have to agree here--with the proper repairs that old tuba would have been a very good instrument but we never had enough money to fix it up--the only time in six years it was in the shop was when one of the other tuba players dropped it an broke a piston arm on one of the valves--btw in my school there were 3 tuba players and 1 tuba--we took turns. We were in different bands so it worked out ok but pracitice time was a little tricky. Sometimes we would use the ONE sousaphone we had but it was in such disrepair that it was not always a very good option.
I agree that if one wants a better horn they should purchase their own horn but coming from a large family --definitely not rolling in dough--who also has to support a child with cerebral palsy, I learned to be grateful for what I had and that I was even able to play. I still have not been able to save enough for my own horn yet and feel very grateful that my college is loaning me a Yamaha 641 BBb for now until I have my own horn. I think that as long as its a tuba and it plays its good enough--for now.
