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Very cool (or hot) idea, Joe. I don't really see a need for that where I live in Austin now, but having spent most of my life in NY, there were dozens of times when it was cold and I would arrive to a gig or rehearsal an hour or so early, find the location where we were playing and just leave the tuba there to warm up. For warming the tuba up, does a blanket type of item exist that could plug into a cigarette lighter? I would've liked to get the horn warm in the car too.

" For warming the tuba up, does a blanket type of item exist that could plug into a cigarette lighter? "

That would be quite a load on the battery: cold starting the car after the gig might not be very reliable.

Hi bloke,

if that´s supposed to work, make sure the isolating bag is quite warm and of high mass when put to use.
Problem is: metals in general have VERY low specific heat and a great coefficient of heat transfer.

I´m sure YOU will be aware of this, but some may not:
That means, You need only a little AMOUNT of energy to alter the temperature of a metallic object by a certain value.
They also pass on heat energy VERY quickly to its surroundings, more so than materials typically used for insulation.

This is an estimation only, but I´m afraid anything short of a trunk filled with styrofoam (a mold to fit Your horn into) won´t do the trick.
And You can´t keep that styrofoam in the car, either, it needs to be at desired horn temperature, at least.

So I suggest insulation (gig bag or case wrapped in blankets) combined with active heat source (for example: light bulb) stuffed in bell, running on car´s battery.

Aw, come on ya bloody wimp. I used to make sure that when I was giggin in chi town in sub zzero weather, i got to the gid in time to get my axe up to temp.

Doesn't anybody know to be ready to play and make some music anymore??? Ya wanna get paid?? Make sure you can do the job.

Down bag, down comforter. We've all got one somewhere. Or....depending on vehicle and tuba, put the bow on the floor in front of the passenger seat with the HVAC blowing on it. That won't help except during transport, but better'n nuttin.

The picture of Steve McQueen is also relevant because of the (his) connection to motorcycles. (Well, we are talking "stupid" here.)

The technology for a heated bag exists and has been used extensively in motorcycling for some time. I'm surprised that all you guys who transport your tubas by motorcycle haven't brought this up already.

Back when my wife and I were riding motorcycles (given up some years ago because of our advancing age and, even more, because of the increased danger of riding around in a crowd of "cages" whose drivers are all on their cell phones), we each had heated vests and mittens for cold weather wear. Just plug 'em in and they REALLY work. Easy for manufacturers to make a heated gig bag along the same lines (thus in a sense embedding the electric blanket into the bag lining itself). I'm sure a petition to manufacturers to do this would be warmly received.

I confess that I don't know how long this would work on just battery power alone (without an alternator charging it and without draining the battery), but there are also a number of products available for hunting/fishing in cold weather that use similar technology and portable battery packs. Heated socks might be just what Bloke needs in place of the Thinsulate. You might just get several pairs of these socks and stuff them down the bell. Also, a solar-powered heated gig bag would be very "green", and all the people in the universities would buy them. Probably people who don't even own tubas would buy them. So there's huge market potential here.

With reliance upon electric/battery powered blankets, one needs to be aware of car battery draw down - you might not be able to get your car started after using battery to warm up your tuba; and the possibility of a fire hazard. Who would want to see their care and tuba go up in flames. At least your tuba would be HOT!

Come on we are tuba players... full of hot air.... just blow on it