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Hey guys,

Let me pick your brain for a minute. I've got a Thor right now that I've had for a while. It's a great horn, but since grad school, I honestly haven't played much at all. I've decided to start playing again, but since I'm not playing in an orchestra or other large ensemble, having such a large horn seems like overkill. I'm considering purchasing an F and selling the Thor to cover the cost of the new horn. I'm looking to have something that will afford me the opportunity to work up some rep for some recitals, as well as local church and such gigs, and maybe even some quintet playing, and I think the F would be perfectly suited for those situations.

My question for you guys, do you think it would behove me to keep the Thor and then get the F later, or sell the Thor to get the F now? I don't want to be stuck with an instrument that can't handle sitting in a larger ensemble if that comes up for me.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks!!

I'm kinda doing this now, but with a significant difference. I have a great but currently unplayable tuba, and another great but too big tuba. I went through bunch of different possibilities for what I'm doing with the next year or two... Since my wife and I want to move at the end of this year, we can't spend the money on an overhaul. So I put my awesome 5/4 tuba up for sale, and I want to get a small soloish F tuba with the proceeds.

For me, it's a matter of fact that I'm not gigging as much as I'd like to because I don't like taking this big tuba out and about. And with a small C covered in the future, it's pretty easy for me to figure it out.

The moral of the story: if your Thor is too big for you to gig, and a small tuba will get you playing more, do it. i get the other side of the argument, too -- if you like your tuba, keep it and keep playing. But if you think you'll play more often on an F tuba, get one. Everything else will work out over time, but if you want to keep playing, you should just do whatever it takes to keep playing.

If you are searching for one all around horn, than I would suggest a medium-large Eb tuba. If you do this, then you can be both delicate, low, and loud.
Just my two cents.

I find the Thor to be a middle of the road CC tuba that can be used for most anything. The bell is not huge and the valve bore is only .750". For a while, I owned an Alexander CC tuba as my only instrument. Its valve bore was .810". I used it for anything from large orchestra to brass quintet quite successfully. In this country, the CC and the BBb tubas are the main instruments of most professional tuba players. If this were Germany, I would say, "Sell the Thor and get an F tuba". My advise to you is to keep the Thor and stop thinking of it as a big tuba. It really is not. Think of it as an all-purpose tuba. If you practice sufficiently on it, the tuba will become a part of you. It will do anything that you want it to do.

I have not played a Thor myself, but I just heard a high school girl play a pretty good VW concerto on a Thor. About this time last year the CSO featured the same piece with the famous York getting used over an F. If you stick with that Thor, you can access the solo repertoire as well as others.

On the other hand, I played F only for about 15 years and it served me pretty well.

The economics of keeping what you already own are often favorable.

An 822 might be a great fit, should you choose the F route.

That being said, I never really understood the whole "this horn is too big for that gig" thing, for it's much better to be cold than hot. If cold, just put on a sweater, or more; if hot, you can only get so naked...

If you think your Thor is too big for a specific ensemble, then play it smaller. If you think an F might be too small for another gig, then you're hotter than hell, and no one wants to see your junk flopping about.

Maybe it's just me, but I think a contrabass tuba is useful in more situations, than is an F tuba. You can always make a contrabass play lighter (different air stream, different mouthpieces,...etc.), but you will be hard pressed to make an F tuba play heavier.

Tubas are often needed for large ensembles, and an F tuba (by itself) will probably not be satisfactory as the contrabass voice in a 50 piece concert band. At the same time, people have been using contrabass tubas in brass quintets, for decades!

Thanks so much for all the great advice, guys. You've given me a lot to think about.

The reason a large tuba can be too large is simple; right tool for the right job. 6/4 tubas even 5/4 can be overwhelming in breadth of sound. The dancing elephant is still huge. I've heard a lot of brass quintets that sounded like a brass quartet and a tuba. Not because of the tuba's volume or agility, just pure sound width. And lets face it, that's why the 6/4 tubas work well in an orchestra; even when they're at pp, their breadth is still providing a foundation.

Other side of the coin is that the contrabass tuba sound is really what 80% of the crowd wants to hear when they think "tuba". I play in a band with a brass section; trumpet, trombone, horn and tuba. Being that there's a rhythm section (and a bass player!) I really expected the F tuba to work best; but it didn't. I just ended up blending in with the horn and trombone instead of adding something to the special mix. That extra, "ya". The contrabass tuba fills out our section and gives it something many groups don't have; a tuba. In order to get the tight 4 part harmonies happening in the upper registers I play a 4/4 horn with the group.

Getting back to your specific situation, my gut feeling says use your Thor as much as possible until it proves to you that it's not going to work. You got the horn already and they have a very good reputation. If it works out over the years then you've avoided a big mistake; selling a great playing tuba. If it doesn't work out then you'll know from experience what you do need, whether thats a different type of 5/4 CC, a 4/4 CC, a 3/4 CC or an Eb or F tuba.

I've never played Eb but they do make great all-rounders.

Good luck
-P