Page 1 of 2

Have you ever locked your tuba to a toilet?

Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2005 11:22 pm
by Dylan King
I haven't.

But I have used a rubber coated bicycle lock to secure the top bow to a hotel room radiator. I was wondering if anyone has done something similar?

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:02 am
by Chuck(G)
Somehow, I can't even begin to imagine the same conversation starting up on the flute list... :roll:

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:28 am
by dmmorris
Sounds like an invitation to visit your repairman!

I'd recomend "no".

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:40 am
by clagar777
No, but I would sure like to be able to lock my case.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:26 am
by Tom Holtz
JohnH wrote:I wouldn't put my tuba in the same room with a toilet. What if you get up in the middle of the night, you're half asleep, you don't cut the light on....
Good point. However, I've wondered about how to keep the horn secure while traveling. I'm generally not too uptight about leaving stuff in hotel rooms. I know lots of folks have been burned before, but after a few national tours' worth of hotel rooms, I'm pretty complacent. Still, when you've got a $$$ horn in a strange city, and you want a little extra security, chaining the horn to the plumbing may not sound too far-fetched.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 12:47 pm
by Monty
This reminds of the time I got arrested on the way to a gig.
Cops had me in cuffs in the car and started trying to take apart the old king. I kept telling them they werent going about it right. ( bell was kind of tight)
Finally they let me out of the car- in cuffs- while one pulled on the bell and one held the other side- I straddled the body and coached them through...They then took my tuba to "Evidence"...

....Youre probably wondering - I had a busted out tail light and had forgotten my wallet.. La requires them to take you in.

Anyway... I first related this story on the Flute list....

Before that.... The truck with the busted tail light was my landscape truck - I didnt have a case so I would secure my horn in a towel and pack it in mulch... once I put a pine tree through the middle.... was purty.

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 1:06 pm
by porkchopsisgood
Monty wrote:This reminds of the time I got arrested on the way to a gig.
Cops had me in cuffs in the car and started trying to take apart the old king. I kept telling them they werent going about it right. ( bell was kind of tight)
Finally they let me out of the car- in cuffs- while one pulled on the bell and one held the other side- I straddled the body and coached them through...They then took my tuba to "Evidence"...

....Youre probably wondering - I had a busted out tail light and had forgotten my wallet.. La requires them to take you in.

Anyway... I first related this story on the Flute list....

Before that.... The truck with the busted tail light was my landscape truck - I didnt have a case so I would secure my horn in a towel and pack it in mulch... once I put a pine tree through the middle.... was purty.

It's probably too much to ask that you made all of that up? hehehehe

Wow. :lol:

I don't worry about my horns too much in a hotel, but if I had the investment some of you guys have I would certainly chain my instrument to something secure in the room. Good idea, I'd say.

Of course, that's in no way a deterrent to what WILL happen when the criminal realizes he can't take your horn to the pawn shop. I figure a size 12 to the bell a couple of times would probably do it..... :cry:

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:46 pm
by Mark E. Chachich
I used to use the same technique to secure my tuba in motel rooms and still would.

When I used to travel with my tuba and stayed at motels (on the road, auditions, whatever) I would lock my tuba to something in the room such as a radiator, bed frame or coat hanger bar. Like you, I used a plastic coated bicycle cabel lock.

Mark

Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:02 pm
by Dan Schultz
I've heard the story about a very famous tuba player (not suggesting any names here) puking down the bell of his tuba during a commuter train ride. Can anyone confirm it?

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 5:28 pm
by tubeast
I had to store two (!) tubas on my travel to ITEC at Budapest last year. One to take along to the convention, the other one had just been purchased on my way there and was to be left at the train station. (I didn´t really care to leave those in the trunc of my car back then) I had to spend a couple of hours in town to wait for the train to Hungary,and only one of the two was to accompany me to the ITEC. Kept both of them (and my luggage) in one of the train station´s bike lockers in Salzburg, Austria. Cost me about 5 € for the week and would have had provided space for another two horns, at least. The lockers were guarded by cameras, so I felt pretty safe.
Plus, burglars will look for certain items (Jewelry, expensive clothing or make-up, fancy bags...) and a tuba doesn´t really fit those categories.

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 6:41 pm
by Tubainsauga
What about locking two tubas in walt johnson cases together. If you did it right, it would be near impossible to move.

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:49 pm
by tofu
Pedalocity wrote:
JohnH wrote:I wouldn't put my tuba in the same room with a toilet. What if you get up in the middle of the night, you're half asleep, you don't cut the light on....

:P
The guy that wrote "Tuba: Views from the back row" told me an old story about Bill Bell, peeing into the bell of his tuba during a concert with NY. Phil. He said the stinch was ridiculous, and the whole back row was rolling on the floor laughing. If I remeber right, he was playing a huge Conn, recording, bell front model tuba.
Who knew -- the Tuba was the original Porta-Potie!!!

I guess when the conductor asks "whats that crap coming out of your horn" the return question will have to be "can you define what you mean by crap?" ;-)

Gold commode

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 12:22 am
by Kevin Hendrick
Pedalocity wrote:The guy that wrote "Tuba: Views from the back row" told me an old story about Bill Bell, peeing into the bell of his tuba during a concert with NY. Phil. He said the stinch was ridiculous, and the whole back row was rolling on the floor laughing. If I remeber right, he was playing a huge Conn, recording, bell front model tuba.
Bet that evening really whizzed by! :P

Mistaken Identity

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 9:18 pm
by GC
Have I locked my tuba to a toilet?

No.

Have I mistaken it for a toilet?

No.

Have other people mistaken my tone for toilet noises?

Well . . . :oops:

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 6:44 pm
by Jeff Miller
JohnH wrote:I wouldn't put my tuba in the same room with a toilet. What if you get up in the middle of the night, you're half asleep, you don't cut the light on....

:P
Well, you could always go ahead an do that in your tuba yourself. Then no one would want to steal it.

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 10:50 pm
by tubatooter1940
Heard the same bathroom story about a shiny saxaphone.
I was on the road two years with a 1960 Gibson archtop and a Fender Super Six amp. I worried about losing the guitar because it was a good player. My tuba was not very expensive but I would hate to lose it because it is a good player too. Even more I would hate to have to explain the loss of either to my wife. :oops: