TubeNet

jonesmj wrote:Hi-
While browsing, I saw on Dave's BBC website a notice of updates on pricing of Meinl Weston, B&S, Hans Hoyer, instruments.
Prices have gone up. If anyone in Tubenet land owns one of these (MW for tubas), you may want to check replacement prices and adjust your insurance coverage. FYI...
Mark

bloke wrote:naw...

Thanks for the heads-up, but

I'll just sell 'em at a big profit and buy Chinese copies.

Grooving for Heaven wrote:I recently listed a car on craigslist for what I thought was a fair, sell-it-quick price. I didn't want to haggle, I just wanted to get it out of my driveway, and yes, the car was listed for a "bargain" price. After the ad was up for a few days with little attention I asked a friend of mine that owned a used car lot what he thought about the ad. this is what he said:

"the price is too low, and you listed everything wrong with the car. Double the price and don't be so honest and you'll sell it before the sun goes down" He said anything listed for a price that makes people think they are getting a bargain also makes people think it's a pile of crap.

If the chinese 4 valve compensating euphoniums (which seem to be by everybody's evaluation remarkably good) sold for $3000 instead of $1000, maybe people would think of them as being better instruments. I have a feeling in 2 years prices will skyrocket on these horns and we'll be sitting around wondering WHY.

LJV wrote:Yes. You also don't see him here working his business into every thread and post nor attacking people that may not like any given product he sells. He's a class act.

tofu wrote:

LJV wrote:Yes. You also don't see him here working his business into every thread and post nor attacking people that may not like any given product he sells. He's a class act.

Yes BBC is a class act.

For XMAS I received a BBC tuba stand. Unfortunately the first time I used it in a performance the metal insert for the screw fell out (a defect in the surrounding plastic). I emailed them and they immediately FDXed me a replacement. Did not ask for the purchasers receipt nor any questions nor pointing a finger as to possible user fault. Excellent to deal with and why I continue to deal with them.

Missouri wrote:

LJV wrote:Yes. You also don't see him here working his business into every thread and post nor attacking people that may not like any given product he sells. He's a class act.

Does he pay the sponsor fees?

Missouri wrote:

Kevin Hendrick wrote: Here's a link to the sponsors list:

http://www.chisham.com/sponsors.html

Do you see Baltimore Brass in the list? I do.

I didn't know about that link. I do not see Jonesmj or Big Mouthed Brass anywhere.

bloke wrote:naw...

Thanks for the heads-up, but

I'll just sell 'em at a big profit and buy Chinese copies.

Roger Lewis wrote:It's pretty typical that B&S/Meinl Weston would update their price list every year as of January 1st. Miraphone typically does this at the end of March. Don't blame Dave for this, it's all based on the Euro/Dollar relationship. Some of it has to do with "landing" (the shipping and customs duties) as well as the price of oil can dictate how much it costs to get something here from Europe.

Just from my experience.

Roger

Missouri wrote:This generation seems to want to buy things cheap, instead of buy things of quality. You can buy your Wessex Jin Bao tubas for cheap, and they might last 10 years. You can buy a nice German tuba like a Miraphone 186 that will last 10 years. If you decided to buy another horn, and you take care of them equally, which horn will have more value and more of a market?

bloke wrote:I don't see that Chinese knock-offs of western-R&D models won't "last". It's just that they aren't as "good".



In the meantime, there are some great mouthpieces and other improvements are being developed, people like Martin Wilk are finding ways to make "great" tubas blow even better...and western manufacturers (rather than entering into licensing agreements with people like Mr. Wilk) are continuing to "conglomerate", and (yes) moving their "student" models' manufacturing over to...
...China. :|Why didn't you add your name there bloke?? I hear you make a mighty fine Mouthpiece!Don't yours make a great tuba sound better??..Intonation.. is that when your horn blends with the other instruments?Resonance? is that how much sound you can produce??Beautiful sound is it only older horns that have it ? and is some of that the player?? I know some of these questions sound stupid but before I entered this site I didn't even know that there were 6/4 horns!<S>..........BB ..still trying to understand<s>

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*That having been said, it seems to me that many of the new high-end tuba models of western (European) design either emphasize resonance (decibels) or improved intonation...with very few of them putting an emphasis on "bel canto" (beautiful sound). I find that most of the tubas which are capable of producing the most beautiful sounds were manufactured in the past. (This same trend tends to go for other families of top-drawer wind instruments as well - trombones, bassoons, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, etc...)

imperialbari wrote:...My worry about Chinese brasses is that they are made in areas without a profound and first hand rooting in a cultural tradition relevant to Wester type brasses...