Question about buying a horn....

[TubaSailor]

Have you talked to Steve Ferguson at the Horn Guys? He's currently out of 188's according to his web site, but if he's going to order one, you may be able to work something out where you could have first right of refusal, or you could ask him to notify you when one comes in. I only mention this because he's at least in the same state - which might give you a chance to play the instrument before commiting big bucks. Depends on your timing. Good luck..

[Ryan_Beucke]

I'm pretty sure WWBW does have a return policy, so you could order 3, put them on your credit card (assuming you have a credit card with that big a limit...) and return all but the keeper. You would have to pay shipping and maybe a restocking fee.

I would say if you're going to spend that much money, you should either do that or take a trip to one of these places to play the horns. a few hundred dollars of airfare is well worth it when you're spending almost 9000 dollars on an instrument.

You could also ask Roger Lewis to pick one out for you if you REALLY needed to save money (but then why would you be buying a brand new instrument if that were the case?).

[Tigertuba]

PM sent.

[MikeMason]

I would trust Roger to pick one out for me if I were in your situation.He's solid...

[TMurphy]

I can vouch for Matt Walters at Dillon's. I don't know what their return policy is, but I do remember testing my current horn for a week before I bought it. I'd give him a call....last time I was there (little under a month ago) there was a 188 on the floor.

[The Big Ben]

I would trust Roger to pick one out for me if I were in your situation.He's solid...

Agreed. I bought my Meinl-Weston sight unseen from Dave Fedderly (years before he had a shop, just selling out of his house). I described what I liked a horn to do and he sent it to me, I never considered sending it back because it was perfect.

When dealing with someone highly knowledgeable and qualified like Roger Lewis, you usually won't go wrong.

RC

Or Dave Fedderley or Matt Dillon.

Personally, I would pick one store that had one or more of the same horn you were interested in buying and then fly there and give it a try. (Roger should have multiple copies of many horns and the same with David Fedderly and Matt Dillon.) I wouldn't try and do all of it in one day but Motel 6s are cheap. Given enough advance time, plane tickets can be discounted. You wouldn't have much baggage going (change or two of clothing, music books, tuner) to mess with and you would have to talk with someone who knew whether to take the horn back on the plane or to have it packed properly and send via DHL, UPS or Greyhound.

I'd figure out the costs of doing it that way. If it really is too expensive and time using for you, trusting one of these men as others have would give a good alternative. When calculating the cost of a trip, it would be also good to figure out the cost of sending an unsatisfactory horn. You would have to pay to have it sent to your house and then pay to have it sent back to them... Lots of things to think of but, with the kind of money you are dealing with, I would suggest finding a way to pick and choose through four horns of the horn you are looking for as well as a few might meet your needs but you don't know. When I finally deserve a new horn and if I couldn't get it locally, I'd try the 'Fly and Buy" approach

[Roger Lewis]

Miraphone has had to adjust their pricing for this year due to the weakness of the American dollar against the Euro. We still have 2 Miraphone 188's in stock that we can sell at the 2007 price of $7,495.00. After these are gone, then the price will need to go up to match the increase from Miraphone.

The 188 is a great horn and, much to my wife's dismay, one may be added to the pile of horns in my living room in the future. It's all part of her "after Roger's gone tuba sale for the trip to Gucci in Paris" plan. Not that I'm planning on letting that happen any time soon.

The Brasswind has a 45 day trial period so you would have plenty of time to see what the instrument is capable of and how good a fit it would be for the type of playing that you do. You would need to pay the shipping both ways (if you decided not to keep it), and a restocking fee of $20.00. We have payment plans available as well. You can get more niformation from our 8 pages of FAQ's on our web site here:

http://wwbw.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wwbw.c ... td_alp.php" target="_blank

Peace.
Roger

[kingrob76]

The 188 is about the only horn I would NOT make an effort to do side-by-side comparisons on - the newer ones are so consistent it's not funny, and they have the best rotary valves I have ever seen, without exception. I would have no issue with any of the aforementioned professionals selecting one and shipping it to me for a trial.

However, if you can afford a day trip to wherever to try multiple makes of the same horn side by side it's VERY much worth doing. Yes, you may love the horn you get sent to you, but, there may be another that just really clicks with the way YOU play. It's such a personal process, IMO, it's worth the effort and expense. I've been MUCH happier with the purchases I made this way.

The new 188's though, are probably *my* only exception to that rule.

[Rick Denney]

...Matt Dillon....

...was a marshal in TVLand's Old West, or a current actor, depending on your age.

You mean Matt Walters, who works for Steve Dillon.


The actor.


The Hollywood Old West Marshal (from http://www.jamesarness.com)

Rick "not seeing much resemblance" Denney

[kingrob76]

The 188 is about the only horn I would NOT make an effort to do side-by-side comparisons on - the newer ones are so consistent it's not funny, and they have the best rotary valves I have ever seen, without exception. I would have no issue with any of the aforementioned professionals selecting one and shipping it to me for a trial.

The new 188's though, are probably *my* only exception to that rule.

Would the new 188's qualify as the 08 model or the 07 model, and with the newer 5th valve linkage or the older one?

-Yale

I think they've been making them this way for a few years now - not sure there is an '07 or '08 model per se. I played one in March that was shipped in '07, impressive horn.