Does Country of Origin Matter When You Buy a Horn?

[dwerden]

This poll question came to mind one day when I was reading TubeNet. Wanna add your opinion?

"If you were buying a new horn today, would the country of manufacturer make a difference in your decision?"

Please follow the link below to take the poll - thanks!

http://www.dwerden.com/TubaEuphPoll.cfm

[bort]

I will say my piece here... And I am really interested in hearing comments, so lets not turn this into another bashing thread...just the facts.

I will not buy a Chinese tuba.
I prefer German and Swiss tubas. Czech are on the list too.

I have no problem with British or US tubas, but they don't make the kinds of tubas I like. Ditto for Japan.

So really, if the people making it can't speak German, I probably won't seriously consider it.

[dwerden]

bort,
Thanks for the response. And I agree... I don't want to encourage bashing, just get opinions on whether it matters.

[sousaphone68]

If I was buying a horn today then no the country of origin would not be of most importance to me.
I have an American Sousaphone, an English 3+1 Eb tuba, two Asian tubas and a eastern european Bb rotary and have owned a German euphonium.
So country of origin has not been a factor in my decision to buy in most cases my decision was more greatly influenced by lack of choice available at the time of my being able to fund the purchase.

I think the corollary would be, does your country of origin affect your range of choice and taste in design?

[imperialbari]

Yes!

[Lingon]

No.

[ghmerrill]

I'm just working on getting the rules straight. At the moment it looks as though if I go up to the TE and try out tubas, I've got to ask Vince to provide me documentary evidence that the guys who made the tubas I'm interested in actually speak German. Ummmm ... Chain of evidence. I guess I also need to settle on my requirement for what ratio of the parts in the tuba were manufactured by certified German speaker, and how the certification was done (I guess this should be 100% -- even though the German government has deviated from this). That's definitely cool. I'm humming "Deutchland über Alles", but I'm thinking that the cost of providing such documentation may drive up the cost of the instruments. Well, there's no compromising principles in these matters. Gotta pay the added cost. Linguistic purity in instrumentation is everything.

[imperialbari]

1/777

[TubaRay]

Yes! We are the TNFJ!!!

[Dan Schultz]

My simple answer is 'NO'.

What matters most to me is the quality. It's a World market and most folks might be surprised if they knew EXACTLY where all of the component parts are coming from... regardless of whose name appears on the bell.

[cambrook]

All of the tubas I've ever owned have been made in Germany or Switzerland. I have not been tempted to buy any of the tubas currently made in China, but that decision is based entirely on the quality of the instruments and not the country itself.

If the XYZ Tuba Company made instruments of the same quality as my hand-made 6450 then I might be interested in buying them - whether they were made in Timbuktu or Geretsreid.
or Australia

[pgym]

I'm just working on getting the rules straight. At the moment it looks as though if I go up to the TE and try out tubas, I've got to ask Vince to provide me documentary evidence that the guys who made the tubas I'm interested in actually speak German.

Luc Kerhof bought Tuba Exchange last year. Vince is no longer involved in the operation.

[ghmerrill]

Yes.
Besides, Madame Mao hated the tuba, why would I want one made there?

Precisely because she hated it?

[uncle jerd]

No Chinese tubas, or anything else if I can help it, for me.

Ken

[MartyNeilan]

Many years ago I played in a church/community band in New Jersey. I usually played a big Mirafone at the time. The other tuba player was in his mid 50's and played a top action 3 valve compensating Besson BBb (very in tune, I might add.) He and I never really had any issues, and he never had much to say about my horn. One week I brought my Yamaha YFB621 for some reason. He jumped all over me for playing a Japanese horn, and may have even slipped in a Pearl Harbor reference. In that context, I think the irony that I usually played a German tuba was completely missed on him.

(The fellow was a gentleman and apologized the next week. I must have struck a sensitive spot with the Yamaha.)

[ghmerrill]

People forget (if indeed many living ever knew) how reviled the Germans were during and shortly after WWII. A longstanding friend of mine (and professor for some years now at Notre Dame University) mentioned some years ago that the depth of war-time and post-war feeling was so intense that one often heard references to the "so-called Germans" simply because "so-called" was regarded as such a derogatory adjective. I recall my family having German-born friends when I was a child, who (though they did not go to the length of changing their name -- "Schlenkermann") were constantly vigilant to be considered as "American" rather than "German". It was from Mrs. Schlenkermann that I originally learned German, even though her own daughter refused to do so.

How ironic that we are now exhorted to prefer German tubas to all others. My Prussian genes are very confused. Perhaps we should up Bort's ante and require that any tuba PLAYER document his German heritage. (Oh, I'm sorry. Actually Bort's proposal does not involve German heritage but only the ability to speak German. So if the all the Chinese tuba makers learn German, then their instruments will immediately become acceptable. That seems fair.)

[Doug Elliott]

I was in China over this past Christmas and New Years, touring with an orchestra. I went in quite a few instrument shops in Beijing and saw pretty much nothing but junk for sale in the way of brass instruments. I didn't see any high-end music stores at all.

I was surprised to learn some history I didn't know, concerning German colonization of part of China starting in 1898. The Tsingtao Brewery was founded in 1903 by German settlers in Qingdao (current spelling).

So there actually is a German connection to China...

[Dutchtown Sousa]

Well the best tuba I have ever played was a German Miraphone 186-4U BBb, the second best (tied) was a Russian St. Petersburg 202 BBb, second best (tied) was a Japanese Yamaha BBb (not sure on the model but looking at their current models, it could have been a YBB-641). The third worse was a Japanese Yamaha YSH-411 BBb sousaphone, second worse was a Japanese Yamaha BBb tuba (not sure of the model but it has 4 piston valves), and the worst was a English Besson BBb 3+1 tuba (not sure of the model).
The 3 best were all rotary valve tubas while the 3 worst were piston valve (not as if that means anything, just an observation, as piston valves have their advantages and disadvantages much like rotary valves). The 3 worst were all pretty beat up and not properly maintained. From what little I know about tubas, I don't think the country of origin really matters (Chinese horns might not be total crap, never have played one but some things the Chinese make, such as knock-off small Honda engines, are just as good as their counterparts), but out of pride I would probably say western countries make better tubas (or instruments in general) than eastern countries.

[Biggs]

out of pride I would probably say western countries make better tubas (or instruments in general) than eastern countries.

Take that, gamelans.

[Lingon]

I was in China over this past Christmas and New Years, touring with an orchestra. I went in quite a few instrument shops in Beijing and saw pretty much nothing but junk for sale in the way of brass instruments. I didn't see any high-end music stores at all.

I was surprised to learn some history I didn't know, concerning German colonization of part of China starting in 1898. The Tsingtao Brewery was founded in 1903 by German settlers in Qingdao (current spelling).

So there actually is a German connection to China...

Interesting observation. Our orchestra also did a China/Japan tour two years ago. We also visited a couple of music stores in Shanghai and Beijing. As you said regarding brass instruments, only junk. Their own national instruments were all over the place though. So are those instruments we see here only meant for export?!

Thanks for the history about Tsingtao.