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A few weeks ago a trombone player in the group I perform with tossed my gigbag......with the tuba inside of it...."out of the way" while we were moving chairs to setup for rehearsal. After seeing the extent of the damage that was caused by his carelessness, I proceeded to do what every born and bred New Yorker does best.....I cussed him out like a sailor. The bell had taken the brunt of the damage. It had 2 creases in it that looked awful.

Fast forward to today...

Joe (bloke) fit me in to his busy schedule between several "sousaphone emergencies" to make my horn right again. In a matter of minutes, I watched Joe work magic on my bell. It was as if he took a big eraser and just erased the damage. Poof....all better. It is always impressive to watch a very talented person work in their craft. All I can say is WOW...and thank you!!!!

While I was there he fit my horn with new valve guides. My white resin ones were just about shot. Joe stocks a couple varieties of guides. I opted for the durable black plastic (not sure the exact material) guides. They fit wonderfully. I highly recommend that you check the "rotational play" in your piston valves. If they wiggle an awful lot like mine did, then you should check with Joe on getting yours replaced.

The only downer in my trip: The Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken in Oakland, TN was out of business. I couldn't get my fried chicken fix. Oh well.

Thanks again Joe!!!!

you only cussed the trombone player? if anyone in our band comes anywhere near touching our principal trombonists instrument they are taking their life in hand!
It is the case that those of us who own our instruments are more careful with them and with the band instruments than those who play the band instruments.
I think as well your story speaks to the potentially expensive convenience of the gig bag - over here it the insurers "get out" of paying for the repair. I'm glad the repair went well for you

Bad and good news! I had a similar (but WAY more idiotic) situation happen to me my freshman year. I was sitting next to our bass trombonist in orchestra rehearsal (as a point of reference, his nickname was "Robust" which is a testament to his personality and stature) and, with my CC laying flat in my lap, he proceeded to 'jokingly' reach over open palmed and slam down all four pistons several times. Let me just say I tore him a new one, especially since he 'accidentally' bent my first and second valve stems. I was LIVID. Thankfully my professor recommended a repairman in the Houston area, Kurt Wood, who met me that afternoon at his house to straighten them out (and for only $5!!). Robust did pay for the repair and threw in some gas money to compensate. I am really good friends with Robust to this day but I will never forget that one bad decision.

Unfortunately, many instrumentalists that don't own (or even own) their own instrument don't understand how much of an investment a tuba really is. Cost of a nice trombone (ESTIMATE, correct me if I'm off) is around 3-4k whereas my tuba was, new, almost 10k. I think it really surprises some musicians the real cost of playing such a large instrument. I still to this day protect my horns as if they were my children. I take out insurance by making a 'water' (SPIT) moat around my area.

Moral, respect each other and each others instruments and we'll all get along. Just my .02

-CT

The trombonist did apologize and offered to pay for the repairs and my travel expenses. He will definitely be getting a bill.

What I find rather shocking was his comment regarding why he did it. We were rehearsing at a very prominent high school in our area. He said "I thought it was just some of their (high school's) junk." That tells me he thought it was ok because he thought it belonged to the school. That part just blows my mind.

I've forgiven him and he and I are on good speaking terms.

All trombone players are not idiots, and all idiots are not trombone players. However some of us try harder than others. I'm glad Joe fixed you up. I've never hung around to watch him work but the results speak for themselves. He's pretty darn good at what he does.

tbn.al wrote:All trombone players are not idiots, and all idiots are not trombone players. However some of us try harder than others. I'm glad Joe fixed you up. I've never hung around to watch him work but the results speak for themselves. He's pretty darn good at what he does.

I really don't think it is about trombone players, or anyone else for that matter, being idiots, but it is about carelessness and thoughtlessness, and it strikes all of us sometimes. Perhaps respect and care for instruments should be a prominent part of the musical curriculum.

Maybe I should edit my comments to provide a wink?

Casey Tucker wrote: I still to this day protect my horns as if they were my children. I take out insurance by making a 'water' (SPIT) moat around my area.

Moral, respect each other and each others instruments and we'll all get along. Just my .02

-CT

my wife believes I think of my tuba as my third child - I tell her that it is better than thinking of it as a second wife

I had a trumpet player STEP on my bell TWICE, right after I asked him to be careful where he was stepping. HE didnt even say, "sorry." <expletive deleted> by poster.

tclements wrote:I had a trumpet player STEP on my bell TWICE, right after I asked him to be careful where he was stepping. HE didnt even say, "sorry." <expletive deleted> by poster.

Did he cause any damage?

In my situation my emotions were running hot immediately after it happened. It was a good thing I took my blood pressure meds that morning. We played our rehearsal and I calmed down considerably. The funny thing is that I was helping him with arranging chairs. I was carefully moving the jazz band setup to the back of the room. Here I was carefully moving the stands (with jazz band folders on them), instruments, amplification, etc. Meanwhile, right next to me my own equipment was being tossed. In fairness to the trombone player, he truly felt remorseful and has since apologized. I've forgiven him.

Yes, the heel of his shoe (TWICE, mind you) made a U-shaped crease in the bell.

Don't get me started.

Rick "who has too many stories of people who show no regard for the property of others" Denney

TubaTodd wrote:In fairness to the trombone player, he truly felt remorseful and has since apologized...

How many cases of beer did he give you, and what kind?

Yeah, a similar situation happened to me. I had a CB-50 and I left it in a rehearsal room during a concert when I wasn't playing. I think it was during intermission. When I came back, one of the cello players (a doctor) in the orchestra was standing there playing my tuba. So I immediately walk over to him and ask him to stop playing my tuba and to put it down. I was pretty nice about it but inside I was pretty pissed. He apologized and said he thought it was the school's tuba. Whatever! So I take my tuba without looking too closely at it and go onto stage to my place. It didn't take me long to see the awful creases in the bell. I approached him afterwards and of course he was extremely sorry and offered to pay for any repair. I found out from someone else in the room that before I got there, he picked it up by the tuning slide and dropped it. I was fortunate that Baltimore Brass fixed it for free since I bought it there but the guy still gave me $250 for depreciation.

I had a drunken roommate come home... fall down in the living room, over the horn, then get up and step on the bell.

He denies it to this day. His muddy shoe prints all over the bell don't help his cause.

Great trombone player, horrible roommate. I never got any recompensation for his damages, but I kept his part of the deposit and refused to pay him for the last three months of our cable. 500 in repairs later, the horn in question still has a crunched bell, but at least it is playable now.

djwesp wrote:I had a drunken roommate come home... fall down in the living room, over the horn, then get up and step on the bell.

He denies it to this day. His muddy shoe prints all over the bell don't help his cause.

Back in the day, there were social structures in college dorms that would have handled this sort of a situation. Your roommate would have had to face more accountability mechanisms than just you.

And if it was not in a dorm, then now you know not to pick drunks as roommate when rent is on the line. With people my age and younger, it seems as though this would be pretty difficult to achieve. The notion of moderation seems to be a uniquely pre-Vietnam ethic.

Rick "who endured a drunk for a dorm roommate for a couple of years in college" Denney

Okay, I'm started.

What is it with people that makes them have no respect for property not theirs? The doctor/cellist who thought he was playing a school instrument didn't know it was a school instrument, but he did know it wasn't his. Being apologetic and offering to pay for damages after the fact may result in forgiveness, but it will never result in trust. Why is it that people are so willing to break trust these days? Is it because things come too easily to them?

Accidents happen, and tubas are vulnerable. That requires special care on the part of tuba owners to protect their instruments from accidents. But protecting an instrument from mishap requires different strategies than protecting it from vandalism, malicious or not, and it may not be possible to provide that level of protection and actually use instruments outside one's home.

In an orchestra in which I played, we had stated rules: Musicians were not allowed to cross through rows. Cases in the rows were not allowed. Touching another instrument was expressly forbidden. Non-musicians were not allowed in the musician seating area, period. Yes, this was an adult group, but it would seem from these stories that even adults need to be told such things, despite that they shouldn't.

In my current band, we rehearse in a school. The band room at the school is usually rather disordered for reasons unknown to me, and when we set up, there is often no way to do so that allows me to walk to my chair carrying the instrument, without barging through other rows or vaulting over 12 feet of stacked percussion equipment. I found this unacceptable, and last season tried to change the seating to move everything forward a row (the band room has the dreaded tiers, but plenty of room for two rows on the bottom level). It worked and solve many problems, but the flute players complained--they were cramped. Sigh. So, I now carry a Holton 345 over my head between trumpet players, stepping over their $*$#&%&! cases in the process, and earning their contempt. Bah! Accidents are inevitable when we put ourselves in such situations. Add thoughtless disregard for the property of others, and it gets much worse.

When adults act like everything is theirs, it is no wonder that their kids do so, too.

Rick "thinking adults should know better" Denney

On the flip side... just another reason to *always* put the horn away. Even at home. People are clumsy, people fall over... even when not drunk. And drunk or not, some people are just jerks.

bort wrote:On the flip side... just another reason to *always* put the horn away. .........

I'm considering packing my tuba in the large red Meinl Weston flight case I have and bringing it to rehearsal that way. In fact, it's settled. I'm cleaning the case today and using it on Sunday.

bort wrote:On the flip side... just another reason to *always* put the horn away. Even at home. People are clumsy, people fall over... even when not drunk. And drunk or not, some people are just jerks.

Indeed. The horn, unless in an area that only I occupy, goes in the case now.

We had an open horn policy in the house. We did most of our practicing in the living room. There were no less than 3 trombones, 2 tubas, an acoustic guitar, euphonium, 2 trumpets, and an electric guitar out at all points in time. The over sized room meant that these things could be out, but out of the way. Because both other roommates left their equipment out as well, I was, incorrectly, assuming they would treat my equipment with the same care I treated mine and theirs. This of course was the biggest mistake of all, because most likely, NO ONE will care as much about your equipment as you will!

As far as "picking your roommates wisely", that's easier said than done. A marriage is much more important than a roommate and even people have a hard time picking a spouse to live with. Who someone is in everyday life and who they are when you live with them is completely different.

That comfort of being able to practice in my own home, came in extremely handy when I was going through a drastic embouchure change and sounded worse than a sixth grader over the course of about 6 months. I can't imagine having to have done that where people, such as my peers, could have seen or heard the hours upon hours of frustration.