Posted by C(G) on July 16, 2003 at 18:51:18:
In Reply to: Besson 2-20 posted by Liz on July 16, 2003 at 18:02:49:
It sounds as if you have the 2-20 Eb all right. This for years was Boosey's student-line tuba, supplanted by the 777. Neither is particularly a noteworthy instrument and, in my limited experience, the Eb seems to have more intonation problems than the BBb version.
Since this is your daughter's first tuba, I'd pass this one up if I were you. One of the problems will be that she'll be trying to match other students with BBb tubas and the A, Bb, E and F below the staff will have a tendency to be somewhat sharp relative to the BBb instruments. An experienced player can mitigate this problem, but it will just make things harder for her. And notes Ab and down will, for all intents and purposes, be out of her reach (some more experienced players can get a decent result on these notes using what are known as "false" or "privleged" tones, but it's nothing that a beginner should be burdened with).
And there's the problem that her section mates will be playing BBb; she'll be the odd one out.
My .02 only, of course.