These are the kinds of posts I come to TubeNet to read. Thanks for sharing SSOtuba.
SSOtuba wrote:Hi All -
I have some serious kudos to pass on to Roger Lewis and Ivan Giddings. But before I do, a quick preface to set the stage is needed...
I've been playing tuba professionally for 20 years. I used to play full-time for a living, but I "quasi retired" about five years ago, or so I thought. So, I sold my horns and got a nice, small-ish 4/4 CC tuba with a small bore to have around just to play for church gigs, community groups, etc. About 15 months ago, I was asked to play Principal Tuba on an "emergency" one year contract in a regional professional orchestra, as their tubist of 20 plus years decided to resign less than a month before the start of the 2007-2008 season. When the time came last April to hold the audition for the position "for real", I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue it, but after some soul searching and lots of encouragement from my wife, I decided to "get back on the horse", and lo and behold I won the audition. As I said, it is a regional orchestra that has about 75 or so members, and the tuba chair, at least for the 08-09 season, has about 70 services or so.
After winning the audition last April, I was quickly granted tenure with the orchestra, as I had already played an entire season with them. So, fast forward to about two weeks ago: we had just finished a subscription series where we did Tchaik # 4 and Verdi's "Force of Destiny" on the same program. I knew I was pushing my little CC a bit more than I should, but it seemed to be working pretty well, or so I thought. But after hearing the recording of one of the concerts on our local NPR station, I wasn't so sure, esp. since we have Mahler 5 coming up in less than two weeks. Well, after a recent rehearsal, our Music Director approached me and we sat on stage for about 45 minutes and discussed what he wanted from the tuba in terms of sound and concept, etc. He very much has a "warm, deep, velvety" sound in mind (his words...), and as you might guess, pushing a small bore 4/4 horn on FFF passages wasn't really giving him that, and I knew it. The day I won the gig full-time I knew I would eventually need to get a different CC, so I was somewhat prepared for "the talk", you could say.
Enter Roger Lewis: So, I called Roger the following Monday morning and told him what was up, what I was looking for, etc, etc. He suggested a certain CC tuba he had in the store that was "100% American" in terms of that classic, warm sound. This particular horn has had some extensive mods done to it, including a rebuilt custom extra large 5th valve and some nifty work done on the pistons, and Roger assured me it played "big with the sound I was looking for". Well, 48 hours later I had this tuba in my hands, and I live a solid 8 to 10 hour drive from WWBW. He shipped it via ABF Freight Lines, and it arrived in pristine condition. And he was 100% accurate in it being the horn I needed. Once again, Roger Lewis proves he is the "real deal".
Enter Ivan Giddings: Well, this shiny new chunk of silver has a bigger receiver on it than my previous CC tuba, so all of my mouthpieces were rattling around, and I was resorting to the tape on the shank trick on a temporary basis. I called Ivan up, told him what I had horn-wise and what my playing situation and needs are, and he highly suggested the Alan Baer MMVI model with a Euro shank. Well, I thought about it for a couple of days and did the mandatory TubeNet "search function research", and then called him back and gave him the green light. The NEXT day the MMVI arrived at my house, and Ivan was such a professional about it he didn't charge me for the overnight shipping. After playing the MMVI for a few days now, I am very, very impressed, and Ivan was right on the mark with his knowledge and recommendation.
As I said, I have been doing this for 20 years now, and I have seen a lot of fads come and go, and I am far more suspect of the "next big thing" these days than I was way back when I won my first job right out of my undergrad years. I have lurked on this board for several years now (only recently joined under this name...), and I have watched lots of folks go back and forth about horns, mouthpieces, and the folks/companies who sell them.
That said, Roger Lewis and Ivan Giddings are the real deal, and I would highly recommend either of these gentlemen to anyone looking to purchase a horn or mouthpiece in the future. They just made my job a lot easier (and more fun as well...), and I am indebted to them both.
SSOtuba
