TubeNet

Having realized that I was born to be a brass player and not the woodwind player who attempted to enter my fingers for a period of time in my youth, I am presently making up for lost time.

I have learned, in my eighth decade, that “...a nice little F tuba....” doesn’t literally mean “LITTLE” and that experimenting with second hand tools can be a GREAT learning experience.

My grandson will have access to a nice meuphonium when he learns to pronounce it, and I have no intention of stopping.

In your will or trust, you don't have to name a single executor or trustee. It makes sense to identify a "musical executor" whose job is to dispose of the instruments. My executor (assuming my wife is not available) is a musician, and she knows what to do (and who to call), so I don't have to name a separate musical executor. And my wife knows to call the local radio-club guys, and the GMC Motorhome owners club, and so on.

But most of my stuff? 1-800-Got-Junk. I don't want the instruments disposed of correctly for the sake of my heirs. I want them disposed of properly for the sake of the instruments--most of them are uncommon and, at the least, interesting.

I've seen to many folks decide they were too old to mess with stuff, and get rid of it all in the interest of simplifying their lives. And without anything to mess with, they only messed with the TV remote. That is a grave error. My wife has an uncle who is 88. Instead of checking himself into a retirement community, he hired a former student (he taught airplane mechanics as his third career) to come every day and help him finish the projects he's always starting. He describes his paid helper as his "assisted living". And it's cheaper than long-term care. I think I want to be like him when I grow up.

Rick "who didn't buy the stuff for the next generation" Denney

Another thread i don't have the courage to respond to...

I am sort of in the opposite situation. Now that I am 60, I am thinking that there are some things I have always said I would get one day. Some dream cars, or motorcycles, bicycles, and tubas as well. I figure i had better get them soon while I can still enjoy them. So, I have decided to sell some things, in order to get some other things....
ken k

good idea to make a list of informative descriptions, ser #s, and approximate values for each instrument with pics, and list places like Tubenet to sell them, so your heirs will have the slightest idea of what to do with them when you croak. Otherwise, the sharks can move in an make a killing off your well-earned stuff.

Walter Webb wrote:good idea to make a list of informative descriptions, ser #s, and approximate values for each instrument with pics, and list places like Tubenet to sell them, so your heirs will have the slightest idea of what to do with them when you croak. Otherwise, the sharks can move in an make a killing off your well-earned stuff.

Excellent idea, and I've been trying, off and on, to do this for quite some time - trouble is I get hung up in the minutiae of how to compile the info.

Is there a computer program that someone could suggest to do this?

SteveP wrote:Use an Excel spreadsheet.

Awesome, thanks - I've heard of that, but I've never used that before. Can you add pictures, too?

roweenie wrote:

SteveP wrote:Use an Excel spreadsheet.

Awesome, thanks - I've heard of that, but I've never used that before. Can you add pictures, too?

You can.

About the Excel spreadsheet:
Great idea, and very considerate to those left behind:
Sorting through estate may be part of successful grieving. And passing a collection over to appreciating hands rather than garage sale sharks might offer to those in grief a feeling of relief and a notion of honoring the legacy of a passed-away loved-one.

And then there are cases where kids had to put up with an absent mom or dad (or both) in pursuit of their collecting fever, either abroad hunting for new items or sitting in some remote Studio, "No Entry"-sign at the door, appreciating the collection rather than teaching curve balls or how to grow up being a decent and proud person.
(Yes, there are those people, and no, I´m not saying anyone here is)

Years later, these kids are cursed with multi-layer loss:
- Hours and maybe months of cleaning up/throwing away/organising Garage sale.
- Monetary loss due to missing Information what is junk and what is not, and the awareness and frustration of that fact.
- The confirmation (because you already suspected as much) that this JUNK was more important than yourself during the active life of the deceased, so what does that make you?

So in case someone were a collector preparing their farewell, Aware of a situation described above, a good catalogue of that collection and ways to get rid of it might represent a handshake of appreciation to those left behind.

I don't believe in "collecting" nor do I chose to use my limited resources on collecting. If I know I am going to use it regularly, I have it. Otherwise I don't buy it in the first place, or I sell / trade it. This applies to vehicles, tools, instruments, books, etc.

If not being used regularly, how many -fill in the blank- does one person need?

As a family, we have one sedan, one extended cab pickup, and one motorcycle; my wife insisted on selling hers since her riding days have been put on longerterm hiatus due to birthing, and in her own words she can always get another one when she is ready.

I have a 6/4 frankentuba that now plays extremely well and a 4/4 in the shop that may get sold since it isn't being used all that much right now. I don't currently have an F or a bass trombone because I don't have an immediate need for either.
I traded "down" from a fancy 5 string fanned fret bass to a 4 string G&L that is a very solid instrument and meets all my needs when drop tuned. I may even let that go if it looks like I won't be playing it much anymore, depending on how things shape up long-term.

I have a bunch of metric and sae hand tools (some dating back to my grandfather and step-father) hung up on the garage wall and can fix almost anything with them. I don't need an air compressor and a fleet of air tools or a dozen high end power tools, a couple of the most basic power tools (drill, circular saw, jigsaw) suffice.

Sometimes more is less and less is more.

MartyNeilan wrote:I don't need an air compressor and a fleet of air tools or a dozen high end power tools, a couple of the most basic power tools (drill, circular saw, jigsaw) suffice.

Sometimes more is less and less is more.

No drill press?

Not long ago I treated myself to a small oxy-acetylene kit. Last weekend I sent off for some crimping tools for RJ45 connectors, which I expect I will get a little use out of and then use very rarely, though more often than the crimper for Anderson Powerpole connectors. The oxy-acetylene gear got some use last summer. No way am I going to sell any of this stuff. More tools, is more.

Same with tubas. They do take up some space, and a couple have gone away, but as long as there's room, they stay. I don't want to have to go out and re-buy the tubas I need, if I could just keep them during the time they aren't needed. More tubas, is more.

This kind of thing has been going on for ages. Hear the wisdom of a king...

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11
I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my reward from all my labor.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.

Some King’s never learn. This one included.

DK

I have to kind of feel for the guy, who if I have my historical time line right was not able to count a tuba among his musical instruments, not even a baritone horn. Dark times.

bloke wrote:All of this having been said...

Mrs. bloke and I are in our 60's.
I believe we appear/are-more-energetic/accomplish-more-than quite a few considerably younger people.

THAT HAVING BEEN SAID, we just got a new amazing male kitten. (His name is Covid.) Before picking him up, we asked our 40-year-old daughter if she would accept him into her home if - in a few years from now - something were to happen to us...

bloke "...but animals need LOVE and CARE. Horns just need to be SOLD."

That's a thoughtful question, but he looks irresistible.

Thank you Doc! I always try to be a credit to what ever community I am participating in at the moment. As to room enough, I have been very creative in making space to store my toys and they have to be easily accessible. If I cannot play with them then they just become part of my art collection, and not a toy. Now "Art", that is visual art with no purpose other then to be looked at is not a subject for here.

Charlie C. Chowder