Rudy Meinl 6/4 BBb ... Let's Chat

[AndyL]

Just because Martin decided to take a word out of the dictionary and use it as a model name doesn't mean I can no longer use the word for its original purpose.

Whatever you say.......it just seems peculiar to this mammoth owner, to be on a tuba discussion forum and see the name of his model of tuba (even in a generic sense) used to describe an aspect of different make of instrument, to the exclusion of the instrument that actually has that name.

Rick "thinking a Martin Mammoth is no larger (vis a vis a RM 6/4) than a Martin Handcraft is handmade (vis a vis a RM anything)" Denney

You lost me there.......are you saying Martin "Handcrafts" were not hand made? That's exactly what Martin's catalog claimed.....that "Handcraft" Martin Mediums, Monsters, and Mammoths were essentially handmade from top to bottom.....I'll save you a lengthy quote about hand-bending bows, hand-fitting valves and slides, hand-hammered bells, etc......

I wonder if you're confusing the model name of the instrument (Medium, Monster, Mammoth), with the "build quality" (Handcraft).

Martin Handcraft instruments came with a 50-year guarantee against defects in materials and workmanship. They were built to a quality standard, not a price point.

[Rick Denney]

Whatever you say.......it just seems peculiar to this mammoth owner, to be on a tuba discussion forum and see the name of his model of tuba (even in a generic sense) used to describe an aspect of different make of instrument, to the exclusion of the instrument that actually has that name.
...
You lost me there.......are you saying Martin "Handcrafts" were not hand made? That's exactly what Martin's catalog claimed.....that "Handcraft" Martin Mediums, Monsters, and Mammoths were essentially handmade from top to bottom.....I'll save you a lengthy quote about hand-bending bows, hand-fitting valves and slides, hand-hammered bells, etc......

Martin Handcrafts are no more handmade than any other high-end tuba. They may not have hydroformed bows like Conn used, but neither do lots of other tubas that people don't think of as being especially handmade. Compared to most manufacturered products, of course, all tubas are handmade. The brand tries to make a distinction that really does not exist. Martins are wonderful tubas, but the Martin folks don't own the language.

But anyone can stick a model name on a product to try and attach the quallities of the word to the product. That doesn't make it so. The Martins were big, but no bigger than the competition, even at the time.

I hate it when superlatives keep getting downgraded by ad hype. What's bigger than mammoth? We've already passed up humongous, enormous, gigantic, huge, and so on. If a Martin Mammoth, which is a baby compared to a RM 6/4, is mammoth just because it's a Mammoth, then how do we describe the RM? Elephants are huge. Some are humongous, and all are gigantic. But none are as big as a mammoth.

Someone who knows early Russian tell us what mamot or mamont means. I don't know, but that's the etymology of mammoth and now I'm curious.

Rick "whose B&S F tuba is hand-hammered, too" Denney

[Donn]

Elephants are huge. Some are humongous, and all are gigantic. But none are as big as a mammoth.

Actually, elephants are about the same size as the mammoths were, if it matters. (I read it on the web, where I also read that it comes from Tatar, possibly from their word for earth, since they for some reason believed that mammoths lived underground.)