A Consumers Guide to Tubas

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:51 am

When you're done with the tuba project, would you consider going over to harmony-central.com and helping them with their guitar, bass and keyboard library, as well?

And brassreview.com is the expansion of the original trumpetreview.com, so I'm sure they'd love your input as well, on the rest of the brass range to fill in their libraries also.

The Big Ben · Post by **The Big Ben** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:26 am

Well, we *all* know (or at least *I* all know) that the King 1140 is the best tuba ever. Dan O. almost has it finished and, in talking to him over the phone, it sounds as if it is going to exceed my expectations....

All joking aside, a tuba directory would be very helpful. even if not exhaustive, finding information and 'reviews' of instruments would be helpful when looking for a tuba. The list could develop much like Wikipedia with users making contributions as the list develops.

Along with 'reviews', some sort of a diagnosis section, kind of like a 'When Tubas Go Bad" would be great. First thing Dan did when I took my tuba to him was plug in a mouthpiece and give it a five minute workout. It told him right off if there were any serious problems with the horn. In a recent thread about a beautiful but faulty York helicon, a knowledgable poster came to the conclusion that the reason the horn didn't play well was that the valves were shot. I wouldn't have know that. And the sell of the horn didn't know that either- just that it was a "York" and they are great tubas and are worth big bucks. It would be helpful to be able know something about the major horns one would find out there and, if they play poorly, if the problem is basically one of design or one of condition (or a rag, 'Duet' can down the bell).

I'm sorry if I'm blithering but I encourage this and will contribute what I can- however little that might be...

Jeff

circusboy · Post by **circusboy** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:48 pm

I think this is great, pianolance, and wish you all success with it. Might I humbly suggest, for starters, that you focus on the objective: bore, bell size, valve configuration, weight, unusual characteristics, stylistic intentions (e.g., "modeled after the Chicago York"). You could probably cut your manufacturers list nearly in half by saying "stencil of" for many of them.

Then there could be a subjective description, very clearly labeled as such.

I'm not sure where exactly intonation fits on the objective/subjective spectrum, but remarks about intonation would be exceedingly helpful.

Another stencil not yet on your list (of what manufacturer I'm not sure) is E. M. Winston.

Good luck!

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:03 pm

Mike Finn wrote:Has anyone mentioned Lehnert yet? He made those neat "toilet seat" tubas (and other brasses)

Bandmaster · Post by **Bandmaster** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:13 pm

GC wrote:If you're talking antiques, there's Fillmore Bros Co, Boston Brass, and Hall & Quimby.

Well, if we are going back that far then don't forget John Howard Foote, maker of civil war era horns. But then I found this on a civil war website:

Instruments bearing the name "J. Howard Foote" may have been made by John Stratton of New York.

Others from that era are C.A. Zoebisch and J.A. Rohe.

jonesbrass wrote:Don't forget Kiefer...

I believe that is just a misspelling of "Keefer." I know that Keefer is correct because I have a tuba with that name on the bell.

iiipopes wrote:Grand Rapids Instrument Company (York)

OK, then there is another York stencil called "USA Line."

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:17 pm

If you want to go that far back, just look here:

http://www.horn-u-copia.net

Mike Finn · Post by **Mike Finn** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:02 pm

windshieldbug wrote:
Mike Finn wrote:Has anyone mentioned Lehnert yet? He made those neat "toilet seat" tubas (and other brasses)

Yeah, kind of like the one in your avatar, 'bug!

I knew I had seen one around here somewhere.

Pianolance, I wish you the best in your undertaking, and look forward to following your progress here. (You've already doubled your list!)

MF

Donn · Post by **Donn** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:29 pm

Klaus' pictures might be a good starting place. At least, a way to generate a large list of tuba models throughout the ages.

pianolance · Post by **pianolance** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:16 pm

Donn wrote:Klaus' pictures might be a good starting place. At least, a way to generate a large list of tuba models throughout the ages.

What is the link to Klauses pictures. I am a relative newbie on this forum, although I have been lurking for a while. I don't know Klaus (sorry Klaus - I'm sure you are a very nice guy). Thanks.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:34 pm

I think you'll find what you want on this thread.

pianolance · Post by **pianolance** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:35 pm

Rally, when it comes down to it, just sorting out all tubas with Meinl name is a monumental task. Roland, Rudolph, Gerhardt, Weston, etc.

patentnonsense · Post by **patentnonsense** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:57 pm

great project - maybe set up a web site for it, so people can add to it over time?

Or maybe make it a wikipedia article.

And BTW there's a "Ziess" tuba not a Zeiss i think -

And just tracking down all the VMI stencils is a job too - what's the name Brook Mays used, before they were murdered by lawyers?

Good luck!

pianolance · Post by **pianolance** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:58 am

So far a much clearer picture has emerged, at least to me, about what this Consumers Guide needs to be. It needs to be about what's being currently manufactured with objective summeries on "classics". It should try to untangle the whole "stenciling" picture as well as give objectiive observations about the quality of each horn. You folks are the best source of some of this information so keep following this thread because I am going to call on you for lots of help. Thanks again.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:54 am

I wrote a Consumers' Guide for eBay Shoppers.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Buying-Tubas-a- ... 0000076812

I didn't include any brands in my guide because they are constantly changing.

tubatom91 · Post by **tubatom91** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:47 pm

maybe list the manufacturing standards of each tuba not nessicarily the personal opinion of tone or responsiveness.perhaps a poll for the quality of each horn would work out. personal opinions could be PM'd or emailed instead of the "shooting matches" of personal choices. It may be better if its like a product summary like found on websites selling tubas with a more in depth technical decription.
-just a thought

pianolance · Post by **pianolance** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:21 pm

Through these posts I am learning a remarkable amount about tuba manufacturers. If anyone has a clear picture of the Chinese manufacturer list as it is currently or knows how to cull that information I would be extremely grateful. Thanks.

Tom Eshelman · Post by **Tom Eshelman** » Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:00 am

A fine tuba that seemed to fade out in the 90's was the Kurath.

TubeNet

A Consumers Guide to Tubas

Meinl Tubas

Lots of pieces of the puzzle coming together

Remarkable

kurath