Questions about off brand euphonium

[rascaljim]

Hello,
One of my students' parents went ahead and ordered their daughter a Seimens euphonium off Ebay. She hasn't gotten the horn yet but I did explain once I found out that there are a lot of issues that can come up with buying some of these off brands. What can you all tell me about that brand and whether or not it would be something a repair person would consider working on when things go wrong.
Thanks
Jim Langenberg

[Donn]

Isn't it late in the game for that? Why not tell her it might turn out just fine, and wait and see? Then if there really are problems, the specific details will give the awesome resources of Tubenet something to chew on.

once took a couple bassoon lessons from a nice young man who played in the symphony. He looked over my cheap, cheap Czechoslovakian bassoon, made of suspiciously lightweight wood that was probably an inferior substitute for plastic and keywork that has gradually been disintegrating, and pronounced it a remarkably good deal for a student instrument. Never occurred to me until this minute that he might really not have thought much of it, but knew better than to think it would do me any good to hear that.

[Dan Schultz]

I don't know about the Siemens, but I bought a Musica 4V euph a couple of years ago that I had three guys fighting over. The horn was great!... and still plays great after two hard years of daily use!
Wait until you get the horn to pass judgement. If it plays in tune, and the machining clearances are OK, you might just have a good deal. Sometimes mechanical issues can be cleared up by just taking things apart and removing the burrs inside keyslots and the like.
I've seen quite a few of the no-name horns and some are actually quite good. I'm not afraid to work on them.

[ufoneum]

When you get the horn, let us know what you think. I't would be nice to hear some good reports on these budget horns for a change.

I don't think that will be happening... at least you will have a nice shiny doorstop, though...

[Lew]

I don't know about the Siemens, but I bought a Musica 4V euph a couple of years ago that I had three guys fighting over. The horn was great!... and still plays great after two hard years of daily use!
Wait until you get the horn to pass judgement. If it plays in tune, and the machining clearances are OK, you might just have a good deal. Sometimes mechanical issues can be cleared up by just taking things apart and removing the burrs inside keyslots and the like.
I've seen quite a few of the no-name horns and some are actually quite good. I'm not afraid to work on them.

The difference is that Musica was a brand sold by UMI and made by well known European manufacturers.

This horn may still be good, but I wouldn't put Musica in the same category.

[Ryan_Beucke]

Isn't it late in the game for that? Why not tell her it might turn out just fine, and wait and see? Then if there really are problems, the specific details will give the awesome resources of Tubenet something to chew on.

once took a couple bassoon lessons from a nice young man who played in the symphony. He looked over my cheap, cheap Czechoslovakian bassoon, made of suspiciously lightweight wood that was probably an inferior substitute for plastic and keywork that has gradually been disintegrating, and pronounced it a remarkably good deal for a student instrument. Never occurred to me until this minute that he might really not have thought much of it, but knew better than to think it would do me any good to hear that.

While that's a good philosophy for beginners to not let them think that the horn is causing them problems, I think these Ebay horns are going to present us with a new level of crappy quality that we're not prepared for. There gets to be a point where the instrument is so bad that it's ruining the experience for the child, and that's no good.

[rascaljim]

Ok, so my student finally got the instrument today. It's not a seimens but a Selman. It was a 3valve siver plated instrument. It was tiny. Although in the key of Bb it was about 3/4 the size of a typical euphonium. It does play in the normal range for a 3v euph, but it was like playing a pee shooter.

My first impression of the horn was that it looked like it was put together pretty well, no solder bleeds or anything, but some of the pipes look like they were muscled together based on some of the angles. That and the 1st valve slide was not bent the proper angle so getting it back in the horn was tough.

I decided to tell my student she should return it and look for a bigger horn. I would think this might be nice for a small beginner, but I wasn't convinced that this would be good for a highschool student who's already comfortable with a normal size one.

Anyone got any euphs for sale under a grand? I know my student paid around $200 so I figure that their budjet isn't huge for this purchase.

Thanks
Jim Langenberg

[Joe Baker]

... would somebody please post a picture of a pee shooter? ...

Oh, man... PLEASE don't ask some of these guys to do that!!!

Here, maybe we can leave it at this:

____________________________________
Joe Baker, who is NOT coming back to this thread after that request....