TubeNet

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.........
I would be happier with a horn that cost $1k than $10k, provided that the $1k horn plays well. It wouldn't cause nearly as much financial tension, and probably wouldn't cause stress when I think it might get a dent.

My answer would be "As much as I can afford" which isn't much at the moment because I've got other priorities (child, house)
As long as you got the dough, the sky is the limit. I would only get in debt for an instrument if I were making my living with it, and then only if I got a really good prospect of earning enough to pay it back without too many problems.
(been there, done that, had the painful family arguments about $$$)

Right now I am willing to drop any sort of money that is possible on a tuba. I want something that will last me a good amount of time and I dont mind going up to my eyeballs in debt for it. I am just that sick of playing on this hunk of junk top action holton.

I got lucky on E-bay and got a King E-flat I love.My buddy John Reno got my old Russian tuba I paid 10,000 Rubles for, ($10 U.S.) to hang in his garden with a potted palm in the bell to hide the wrinkles Alaska Airlines put in it.
If you find a horn that will do the job cheap,don't feel guilty that you are not 10 grand in debt like the equipment freaks
tubatooter1940
www.johnreno.com/ See pictures.

For me, it depends on just how awesome the instrument would be, and how much spare cash I have. When I'm in the mode to find a tuba, I'll spend what it takes to get what I want, or I'll wait.

But generally speaking, $5000 has been about the limit of what I would consider. Horns more expensive would not cross the boundary between "unobtainium" and "possible". Were I making a living with my tuba, that number would be much larger. If I played CC, that number would be much larger of necessity.

So far, I've been able to acquire very special tubas with that limit in place, by following two strategies: 1.) I have no need for something that is new or that looks new, and 2.) I stick with BBb, and am therefore not competing against pros for instruments.

Even in the F tuba realm, I've been able to stay within that limit.

But that doesn't mean I'm always financially conservative about it. I bought my Yamaha F tuba by burning a hole clean thorugh a credit card, and every time I put that instrument to my lips, I thanked myself for taking that risk. I've incurred debt to buy other tubas, too, but never so recklessly.

Rick "who sees no need to be in buying mode for quite a while" Denney

Since I don't make a living at playing the Tuba it would DEPEND on how much I could talk my wife into.

schlepporello wrote:Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Hey Schlepp, what are you doing wearing your wife's T-shirt?