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I do not know the name of the City. I have heard that an American music businessman traveled to China to meet with three different instrument manufacturers, to consider importing instruments from one of the companies. On the first day, he was driven to a large building in an industrial complex, where he was met by a gentleman who identified himself as president of a certain company. This person proceeded to give him a tour of the plant. On the second day, he realized that he had been driven to the same building, where another man greeted him and gave him a similar tour. On the third day, reportedly the same thing happened with yet another "company president". I was told that in each case, the personnel involved seemed to be more intent upon learning about American manufacturing techniques than showing the American how they build their instruments. After three days of this, the American had seen enough.

I'm afraid that your stated goal may be a fantasy quest, unless your idea of good sound and intonation is very different from the traditional Western concepts. If you are just looking for a good (?), cheap Chinese tuba, it would probably be cheaper to buy one here, where someone has already imported them in bulk. Container ship space is pretty cheap, whereas an individual flying with a tuba can be expensive, particularly when you declare the instrument at the airport and US Customs gets involved.

On your trip, please do visit a musical instrument factory if possible, and report back to us about it.

was getting their Alloras through Beijing Deyong instrument company outside of Bei Jing as I recall. Yes, I'm butchering the spelling. You might check if they have a web page. I believe it is the same factory that makes the Dalyans. And, Lee is right on the type of treatment to expect.

Roger

what happens to a country when it no longer has usable natural resources. or needs fresh water, or building materials, or food?

Roger

Scooby Tuba wrote:The instrument factories (as well as most other of their manufacturers...) are pretty tough on the environment, too. I'd be careful to what you expose yourself. One such instrument company, when asked what they did with their liquid waste for one of their processes, showed the visitor a pipe that exited the building. Waste then ran down the side of that building, down a hill, and into a creek...

I have to believe the Chinese a going to be in a huge health crisis one day...

Things have long been like that. I visited China in the 1980's to see the steam locomotives (another interest of mine) and it was noticeable that health and safety concerns seemed non-existent. Inside the factory where I saw the locomotives being built there were exposes drive belts and other hazards - they were really dangerous places. Outside the sky was literally orange with the pollution with everyone wearing face masks - it was like being on another planet!

Jonathan "who has no wish to visit China again"

Rocky Bivens wrote:The subject line says it all.

I will be in China for just over 3 weeks in February and would be very interested in visiting a Chinese tuba manufacturing facility. The goal would be to try out a few and find one that plays in tune with a decent sound.

Any help would be appreciated.

Some of the Chinese manufacturers are listed on Alibaba.com. The Chinese sites can take a very long time to load. Many of the translations from Chinese to English leave me rolling on the floor laughing.

http://tinyurl.com/36eknj

Get some friends together and buy a shipping container load of Chinese tubas.

You can:

1. Give them out as party favors.
2. After your kids are with you for visitation, send several back home for your ex's listening pleasure!
3. Donate them to instrument repair schools as cadavers for the students to practice on.
4. Sell them on an auction site as "approved by music teachers."

Import duty on brass instruments is 2.9%. See Harmonized Tarrif Schedule of the United States (2007) Rev. 2, p. 3

Foreign-made trademarked articles, including musical instruments, may be limited as to the quantity which may be brought into the United States if the American owner of the registered trademark has recorded it with U.S. Customs. Persons arriving in the United States with a trademarked article are allowed an exemption, usually one article of a type bearing a protected trademark. The article must be for your personal use and not for sale.

Lee Stofer wrote:I do not know the name of the City. I have heard that an American music businessman traveled to China to meet with three different instrument manufacturers, to consider importing instruments from one of the companies. [snip]

Interesting. I heard the same "cautionary tale" about the Japanese electronics industry in the '70s, the Korean electronics industry in the '80s, and the Chinese electronics industry the mid-'90s. Similar tales, no doubt, were making the rounds of the automotive industry as well. Curiously, none of the tales identified the American businessman to whom this allegedly happened, the company he worked for, or foreign companies involved.

How 'bout some names? Who were the "American music businessman" and the instrument manufacturers? Or is this another "heard from a friend of a friend whose co-worker's third cousin knew someone whose ex-wife's father-in-law heard it in the locker room from a guy who heard if from a taxi driver who said he heard it from a guy he picked up last week who claimed the guy he sat beside on a flight to NYC a month ago was the American businessman"?

I have no idea whether it matters, but "Dalyan" is the name of a city in China. Used to be Port Arthur in the days of foreign hegemony. I spent a few days in Dalyan, on business for GE, back in '04. That is a big manufacturing center for Chinese diesel/electric locomotives, by the way, Neptune.

Dalyan is directly across the Yellow Sea from Korea, on a peninsula. The coastline there looks a lot like the Monterey, CA area - really beautiful, if you ignore all the high powered electronic signal collectors aimed at our Korean bases. The city itself has a blend of old Russian Empire-style buildings, plus nasty looking "Great-Leap-Forward" era blockhouse apartment buildings, and new classy (but mostly empty) highrises. Traffic sucks, air sucks, food sucks, hotels suck, it's all pretty bad.

However, to Tubatinker's point, if things are FUBAR in China -- and IMO they kind of are, especially in the north - they had lots of help from Europe, Japan and the good old USA.

Well,

I own a M&M 4RV BBb tuba, it was made by Songlin,

TIANJIN SONGLIN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT CO LTD.
Address 28-401, Tai Da Yuan, Yong An Road, HEXI DISTRICT.
Tianjin Tianjin 300204 China
Phone 86 - 22 - 23020082
Fax 86 - 22 - 23024806
Homepage www.songlinmusic.com

The Songlin model number used to be Tuba 2-A
Now it's TU-655,
M&M calls it a TU-200
I have been happy with it, and it has better intonation
than my Conn 24-J.

Homepage www.songlinmusic.com

WOW! 23 models of accordions!

Scooby Tuba wrote:Let us know what you think of the "kitten flied lice"...

Things are sometimes not what they seem to be ...

SplatterTone wrote:

Homepage www.songlinmusic.com

WOW! 23 models of accordions!

Any company that makes this can't be all bad

MartyNeilan wrote:

SplatterTone wrote:

Homepage www.songlinmusic.com

WOW! 23 models of accordions!

Any company that makes this can't be all bad

That guitar is a mutant. All of the Chinese industrial waste made it grow five necks.

Unfortunatly, I would imagine if one were to poke areond in Chinese streams and bays, one would find mutant sealife from all of the industrial waste.