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I know quality is what separates these types of brands, but what is it exactly? I know the valves are a big thing, but what else is there? Because there can be 2 instruments with the same general shape and bore but one sounds amazing and the other is... well, poopy. Is it the way one resonates or the the mixture used to make the brass maybe? Just fill me in because I've always wondered this. Oh and one more thing, I've heard people throw around the term "the main bugle of the tuba", but where does this usually start and end exactly? Thanks for reading!

TinyTubist97 wrote:I know quality is what separates these types of brands, but what is it exactly?

Really is all kinds of things. Consistency is a big one, and that makes it hard to say much about the quality of any particular model based on only one example.

Oh and one more thing, I've heard people throw around the term "the main bugle of the tuba", but where does this usually start and end exactly?

If there is any exact meaning, most of us won't be acquainted with it (if it requires any original research, only one, and you'll have to pay him to find out.) I'm sure your surmise is close enough for the rest of us.

TinyTubist97 wrote:I've heard people throw around the term "the main bugle of the tuba", but where does this usually start and end exactly? Thanks for reading!

You don't have to pay me, so this answer may be worth what you're paying for it: My understanding is that the bugle is the tuba excluding the plumbing opened up by depressing the valves. What you get with all valves up is the bugle (I think). If this is wrong, someone will be on it very quickly.

Thanks for the answers!

What made one out of five Chevy 283's run like a bat out of hell and the other four mediocre? Tubas are the same way. Once the basics are done (tapers, bores, & lengths)... the rest is in the tolerances and how they are assembled. Some of the high end tubas are 'poopy', too.

Thank you, this really cleared things up for me!

A Miraphone is the product of highly careful refinement over a period of many generations of revisions. They keep refining until they have an instrument that attains their standard. The high standard of consistency and refinement comes at a cost, and the results are respected in the market supporting a higher price (albeit at a reduced volume).

Copies of these instruments may or may not incorporate those refinements, because the copiers may not understand what is and isn't important about the details of the design. Also, their standard is not nearly as refined and they have less brand loyalty to protect, so the standard their instruments must attain to is lower. Sometimes you get a really good instrument and sometimes it's merely competent; in both cases probably a reasonable deal considering the much lower price point. But sometimes they are real stinkers. When a Miraphone that is bought new is a real stinker (with a much broader definition of "stinker"), the buyer doesn't have to live with it. That also adds to the cost of doing business for Miraphone.

But these questions are a bit like this: What makes the Chicago Symphony better than the Lower Podunk Community Orchestra? They look just the same. Both are populated by adults, and in both cases the instruments used are capable of making a high-quality sound. But the outcome is different for the simple reason that the Podunk performers won't invest the time necessary to develop the same skills, and may not have the talent to make similar use of those skills even if they developed them. That's no knock on Podunk musicians--they live within a wholly different set of expectations.

Rick "don't expect a CSO product for a Podunk investment" Denney