TubeNet

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The seller has changed his ad copy somewhat. Here's what he says for his French Horns:

Have you ever heard BERKELEY WIND INSTRUMENT before? I know you haven¡¦t, because we have just started to make our own brand last year. We have been manufacturing French horns and other brass instruments since 1945. We are the one of the oldest brass factory from china. Even though China is known for low quality products, up until a few years ago, major manufacturers such as, Nike, Yamaha, etc, chose this country to produce their goods. In addition, we have fifty years of experience and senior engineers who have work with us in those years

So, it's a Chinese tuba. The seller claims the bell is detachable, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to detach it without a hacksaw or torch.

The number given is an unlisted cell number (411.com will tell you this) out of the Oakland area. Googling on "Berkeley Wind Instrument" gets no useful information on the brand.

So what else does the seller sell? Well, he sells some really cheap violins (a careful bidder can pick one up from him for less than $10) and a whole bunch of training CDs for stuff like AutoCAD and Powerpoint as well as "Make a fortune from your home-based business CD".

IOW, he brings in stuff by the shipping container lot from China, makes up a nice story and puts it up on eBay. He (or she) doesn't appear to run a music store, nor deal in music for a living.

So, would you buy a tuba from this guy?

bbtubaman wrote:can you post the site where you saw the ad at?
Let us get a look.
I have never heard of Berkeley. It might have been made for a short time.

Go to eBay and search on "Berkeley Tuba" or click here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

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bbtubaman wrote:that is the same chinese jin bao tuba that i saw at brasswind and brook mays except with a different stencil on the bell, same cases and same tuba. we could buy those dirt cheap and they are average tubas with intonation problems.

you get what you pay for and these tubas are not worth more than $1300 to $1500 if that much

i personally would not buy one.

I would think that calling them "average tubas" is generous. The ones that I have seen are significantly below what I would call average. Anyone looking for an instrument to actually play should run, not walk, away from these.

Buying one of these would be like buying a "First Act" instrument from WalMart, and actually expecting to be able to make music with it. It's a shame that some people have come to think that they can trust something if they buy it from a major retailer. How many parents have purchased this junk for their kids only to have the children frustrated by the difficulty of using the instrument rather than enjoying music?

...not to beat a dead horse, but did anyone notice the following phrasing under "Shipping and Handling"?

Winning bidder will pay for the shipping & handling: USA S&H $90 (Canada S&H Fees $120, International S&H fees $150) It will be shipped directly from factory with UPS tracking#.

Shipping & handling fees include postage, direct import from factory, processing labor, warehousing, & packing materials.

Shipped direct from factory? You mean, shipped directly from China?

Run, flee from this one afore it gits ya!

Lew wrote:
Buying one of these would be like buying a "First Act" instrument from WalMart, and actually expecting to be able to make music with it. It's a shame that some people have come to think that they can trust something if they buy it from a major retailer. How many parents have purchased this junk for their kids only to have the children frustrated by the difficulty of using the instrument rather than enjoying music?

Instrument shops here in my area won't even touch 'em. The band directors at the local schools put out a caveat emptor warning to their kids the first week of school. Those who don't follow have had horrible results and I hate it for 'em, but that's the cost of cutting corners...