Re: Re: New tuba for HS band - recommendations?


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Posted by Joseph on June 04, 2003 at 17:41:08:

In Reply to: Re: New tuba for HS band - recommendations? posted by dp's opinion... on June 04, 2003 at 13:05:50:

This is actually in reply to the original poster even though it is linked under Dales wonderful post.

I played Mira 186s in High School.. they were atleast ten years old and were holding up quite nicely thank you very much. Many schools in the area I live in now seem to be using Yamaha 641s and those seem to be doing just fine too. I know that MW25s are also a common choice in many areas and I can't think of a more durable great playing tuba going. Generally rotors even when poorly maintained just get sluggish or noisy over time. Clean them up nicely and they are good for a couple more years of abuse. Pistons on the other hand have a knack for seizing at the most inconvenient moment, invite a lot of untrained fiddling, and require if not daily then atleast every few days maintanence.

Pistons are fine too but I really think it's awfully silly to just automatically throw out half of your choices. Now if the local instrument repair tech is too incompetent to be trusted to know how to handle a rotory valve tuba that's one thing.. and probably not too unlikely. But if a tuba is getting knocked over the type of valves are the least of your problems to consider, as a teacher I think you have other more serious problems that need to be addressed.

My shopping list would include in order of personal preference for a high school environment: MW25(four rotor SOLID professional quility tuba) the VMI 2103(four rotors), VMI 3301(four piston), Miraphone 186(rotor), King 2341(old or new style preferably a four valve version -piston), Conn 5j(four piston 3/4 size nice player might be a good choice for middle school)

Any of those choices can be had for $4500 or less new and will work well.


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