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As I'm sure you know, it's a compromise no matter what.

I've used either Chronkhite or Dolly bags for my instruments exclusively for many years and still get mystery dings when a horn is in a Chronkhite despite how well built they are.

The Dolly is basically a hard case with backpack straps. It is very heavy and I find it a hassle to carry but far less annoying than dealing with a hard case. My horn is well protected against anything short of someone sitting on the tuba.

I prefer the construction of Chronkhite's bags. If we could convince him to add plastic sheeting like Dolly I think we could have the best of both worlds.

Just one thought... input happily welcomed.

I love hard cases but the logistics make it impracticle for my CC. Small horns like the YFB-621 or the Sheriden model work well with their factory cases because they are small. Big horns and dents are always going to be a problem for the freelance tuba player, I see no way around it.

Alex C wrote:I love hard cases but the logistics make it impracticle for my CC. Small horns like the YFB-621 or the Sheriden model work well with their factory cases because they are small. Big horns and dents are always going to be a problem for the freelance tuba player, I see no way around it.

+1

I was just thinking about this subject the other day and found this:
http://www.accordcase.com/" target="_blank , very cool ideas for cases. The 186 tuba case was built for TubaJoe.
I always hated carting my HB21 in the case... heavy tuba & heavy case... a real pain. I can say that when I was ready to sell the horn 8 years later it was in mint condition. I wonder what the costs are on the Accord cases??$$

Hello,

Do y'all suggest any cases for a 4/4 BBb St.Petersburg? It has one of the normal hard cases with two larger wheels on the bottom. It gets old trying to fight it while pushing / pulling it around town. I like the gig bags just for the convince of throwing it on my back and running, but have heard not to waist the money on it.

Thanks,

Nick Phillips

I have one opinion of cases vs. bags - I can fix or replace my tubas. I have only one back.
I have seen da Bloke work on instruments, and he is an absolute master craftsman. He is one of only a small handful of people I place 100% trust in fixing my horn. However, as skilled as he is with a hammer and torch, I still wouldn't let him perform back or knee surgery on me.

At 5'7" and a medium build, I would not want to carry a 5/4-6/4 tuba in a full hardcase all over the places I have to schlepp tubas. I rememeber once carrying a Mirafone 190 Kaiser the entire length of the Atlantic City boardwalk in a hard wooden case. Despite the two small wheels at one end, my shoulder was still about useless by the end. That is when I decided that a dentbag is the unfortunately way to go for much of the day-to-day tubing.
Believe it or not, the majority of damage my tubas have ever received in the last few years has been OUT of the bag/case anyway.
(just ask my kids)

joh_tuba wrote: If we could convince him to add plastic sheeting like Dolly I think we could have the best of both worlds.

+1. I like the idea of a semi-hard case - a soft padded 'bag' with flexible/durable 1/4" plastic sheeting to help prevent dents. More durable & dent-resistant than the soft bags, yet much lighter/easier to transport/more compact than the hard cases

For the first time, I had to fly recently without a flight case. I went to a UPS store and bought a lot of bubble wrap, because the horn (a Meinl Weston tenor tuba) had room to move around inside the hard case (apparently stock equipment from MW--a wood fitted case like the one in Bloke's picture, above, but naturally much smaller). I made bubble wrap "logs" to brace the horn inside the case, fitting it fairly tightly.
The instrument, inside the case, actually fit through the XRay machine in security, and looked like a cartoon tuba when the inmage came up on the screen, rotary paddles looking as if drawn by Dr.Seuss. My plan was to take the horn on the plan as carry on. The flight was full, though, and the airline (Continental) insisted that I gate check the horn. The put a special tag on it, and the Gate Agent hinself carried it out and handed it up into the plane.
I had an anxious flight, worrying about it somehow going through the conveyor when we landed. However, in Cleveland, an Agent got it out of the plane and brought it to me. Not a scratch!
I have read all of the horror stories, and I was so nervous that I cannot imagine ever doing this again. However, Continental (now merging with United) deserves some credit--they treated the horn as if it were their own. The bubble wrap "logs" seemed to work fine, along with the bubble wrap cone I fitted tightly into the bell. A horn can get hurt pretty bad if there is room for it to move around inside the case. I am admittedly very lucky, a big enthusiast of bubble wrap, and very appreciative of the way Continental/United treated my horn.

If putting TWO wheels on your case cuts the weight in half, does putting FOUR wheels on the case reduce
the weight to zero?

Why yes...it does!

tubagod94 wrote:Hello,

Do y'all suggest any cases for a 4/4 BBb St.Petersburg? It has one of the normal hard cases with two larger wheels on the bottom. It gets old trying to fight it while pushing / pulling it around town. I like the gig bags just for the convince of throwing it on my back and running, but have heard not to waist the money on it.

Thanks,

Nick Phillips

For me the MTS pusher cases are easier to maneuver than the Winter puller cases. I worked a couple of summers in college on the loading docks of a local flour mill where I learned to handle two wheeled push carts with up to 400 lb. loads. BALANCE is the key AT ALL TIMES. You need to watch the path ahead and anticipate any irregularities in the surface by lowering the angle enough so that the upward vector imparted by the irregularity doesn't pitch the load forward. Larger wheels make for better handling of these irregularities which means the MTS cases with their small wheels don't easily handle much more than a half inch of rise at a sidewalk crack for instance. At my age (69) I would still rather stop and lift the wheels of my MTS case with its Miraphone 191 5v over the crack than be subjected to a constant 20-30 lb. load while pulling my Winter case easily over the same crack with my RM 5/4 Bayreuth. The narrow wheelbase of the MTS cases make pulling them precarious because you can't easily control the lateral load then and it will tip over when irregularities in the path are traversed. The wider wheelbase of the Jacob Winter case and the location of the forward handle make it very difficult to tip it over while pulling it. My ideal case would be the Jacob Winter with another handle on the far forward side of the case to make pushing it possible. As mine is presently configured it takes two hands to push it around. So I grimace and pull it.

sloan wrote:If putting TWO wheels on your case cuts the weight in half, does putting FOUR wheels on the case reduce
the weight to zero?

Why yes...it does!

Until you get to the staircase.

(I built a wood case for my Miraphone many years ago. I thas four wheels, but stairs happen. The case is in storage.)

Rick "who can curl the 45 pounds of Holton + gig bag, but not the 65 pounds of Holton + wood case" Denney

I don't know why, but somehow this thread gives me images of big, hairy Bulgarian weightlifters at the Olympics. Just kidding, all you Tubenetters of Bulgarian heritage. I wonder if there are tuba players in Bulgaria.

Ace

Ace wrote:I don't know why, but somehow this thread gives me images of big, hairy Bulgarian weightlifters at the Olympics. Just kidding, all you Tubenetters of Bulgarian heritage. I wonder if there are tuba players in Bulgaria.

Ace wrote:I wonder if there are tuba players in Bulgaria.

Of course! But my understanding is that most Bulgarian tuba players are women, while the men play accordion, since the better accordions are of course quite heavy.

Tubainsauga wrote:

"I lift things up....and put them down....."

Donn wrote:

Ace wrote:I wonder if there are tuba players in Bulgaria.

Of course! But my understanding is that most Bulgarian tuba players are women, while the men play accordion, since the better accordions are of course quite heavy.

I'm not sure about that, Donn. Here we can see Yordanka Apostolova easily dealing with the equivalent of five of Bloke's tuba/case combos.



She could probably even handle this one:

Tim Jackson wrote:I was just thinking about this subject the other day and found this:
http://www.accordcase.com/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank , very cool ideas for cases. The 186 tuba case was built for TubaJoe.
I always hated carting my HB21 in the case... heavy tuba & heavy case... a real pain. I can say that when I was ready to sell the horn 8 years later it was in mint condition. I wonder what the costs are on the Accord cases??$$

The Accord is a good answer to this thread... it is both my gig bag and my hard case - my single every day case for every use. My 186 weighs about 18lbs, and the case is about the same by itself (with a lot of padding plus the backpack apparatus)

What you guys were talking about with cost is about right.... but when you add a Unitec or Walt Johnson plus a hi-end gig bag and it is not that far off. I no longer have to worry about mashing into a crowded subway car, tossing it in the back of a minivan with a drum set, tossing it under a bus with the luggage, worry about someone bumping it etc... I can then pick it up and put it on my back just like a gig bag and be on my merry way. It's enabled me to do more and relieved a lot of stress as far as my constant logistics go.

I don't like having to lug more than one tuba for one gig, and I don't like having to have multiple cases for the same horn!

Here's a recent photo:

As far as it seems, Accord will make a case to fit any tuba, although there is a certain amount of *modularability* with the design / cushions etc. It seems as if it is a basic stock design(s) that they taper to the needs of each specific tuba. Every case is completely hand made so they can adjust it as needed. I had to provide them with a blueprint-style tracing with about 20 different measurement points that I shipped to them ahead of time. It takes about a month to receive the case once payment is made. (3 weeks production plus 1 week shipment). The company has been absolutely great to deal with... unprecedented, actually.

FYI, mine is the thickest of the bunch - the *flight* version, with the added backpack system.

I know there is a lot of curiosity regarding this case -- when I get a few minutes I'll write about the pluses and minuses of the case so far. To me, it's been a game changer.

bloke wrote:I'm very excited at the prospect of restoring this 1960's-vintage 6/4 size case (which offers a glove-like fit for this instrument).
I will add wheels, a piano hinge, h.d. latches, and h.d. hinged handles. It will be coated with a "RhinoShield" type of substance
after I've addressed any currently-existing minor flaws in the case halves themselves. With 3" - 4" wheels, weight will seldom be an issue (less of an issue than when schlepped around in a Chronkhite bag). . . .

Good idea, Joe.

I recommend thinking about Kevlar skid strips for curbs and stairs. I have the Kevlar materials for my MTS and Walt Johnson cases (for the Willson 3050 CC).

tubajoe wrote:FYI, mine is the thickest of the bunch - the *flight* version, with the added backpack system.

I know there is a lot of curiosity regarding this case -- when I get a few minutes I'll write about the pluses and minuses of the case so far. To me, it's been a game changer.

I see the ultralight version, which would satisfy most people's non-flight requirements, is a little over 13 pounds if I read that right the one time I could get that page to load. It also appears that they turn the tuba so that it sits in the case at an angle with the bell stack on the hinge side rather than on the handle side. That makes for a compact case. TubaRay used to have a German-made formed plywood case arranged that way, and it was compact enough to be a daily user though daily use eventually killed it.

I would consider such a case, particularly for my F tuba, which seems more vulnerable for some reason. But it would depend on the price.

Speaking of which, how much does it cost? I don't see any hint of pricing on their really terrible, flash-dependent, unreliable, non-standards-compliant, poorly served, and uninformative web page. And their importer doesn't have a web page.

Rick "not interested in the kicking the tires of a Rolls Royce" Denney