gig bag with hip belt

[vlatuba]

Since it would be about the only exercise I could regularly get, I'd like to be able to walk the mile or so to work with my tuba but I dont think my shoulders and back could survive current tuba gig bag designs. Does anyone know of a company currently making tuba gig bags, a backpack company that might modify an existing bag, or even a company that would make a back pack frame to hold a tuba in a gig bag, that offers a hip belt.

Thanks, ED

[tubeast]

I´ll second THE ELEPHANT on this one.
The closest you can get to a serious hiking backpack at reasonable price will probably be the "Soundwear" system.

Tuba size: about 500 €, that´ll be somewhere around 650$.
Mine doesn´t offer a hip belt, but at least there are straps to connect the two shoulder straps so they won´t slide down to your shoulders, but rather sit closer to the neck. (VERY good idea)
Additional straps can be tightened to pull the bell end down towards your shoulders to stabilize the whole thing.

All those straps are attached to a firm frame (aluminum, I believe), that can be dismounted from the gigbag.

The whole thing is and looks neat, professional, and sturdy, but weighs a lot because of heavy padding and plastic protectors. It´s huge, too.

I believe the internal-frame-type backpacks could be modified by cutting away the fabric and connecting the skeleton to the bag. Probably not pretty, though.

[Tubaguyjoe]

there is a gig bag that is sold at Custom Music that has a hip belt. I have 2 of the bags, only the smaller f tuba bag had the hip belt. It bothered me so I tore it off but if you can use it I believe they are about 300 US dollars. I had some trouble with the bags. They look nice but are not the greatest bags. They are top loading and I had to get some work done on some of the handles. One of them tore while I was carrying it because it was just to weak of a handle. Over all though not to bad. Give Jeff Rideout or Neal Campbell a call.

[cjk]

A quote from here: http://www.hornguys.com/tubacases.htm

A tip: Though these cases are light, tubas are heavy. When carrying a tuba on my back, I often seem to have a bass trombone and a mute bag with me too. It's too much. So I went to REI and got a waist belt from a mountaineering backpack called the Wonderland. The belt was about $30. I attached it to the bottom connection of the shoulder straps on my Cronkhite case, and now much of the wight of the tuba is carried on my hips rather than on my shoulders. It's much more comfortabke, let me tell you.