Posted by Arnold S. Gottlieb on May 09, 2002 at 11:43:48:
In Reply to: CC or BBb posted by question? on May 09, 2002 at 08:39:27:
To answer your question on how I made my choice, it was very simple for me. I played BBb tuba in high school, and decided to go to college. My teacher let me play his CC and told me that if I really wanted to pursue playing that I should make the switch. I did this without really thinking too hard. This was 1986, and at that point the choices of horns was certainly different than right now. Many horns were available, but tracking them down was not as easy as it is today. I went to giardinelli's, which was an actual store at that point, and every good tuba that they had was in CC. So, I bought one. Today my horn is a CC, and my helicon is a BBb. I find the current advantages of CC tubas is that alot of work is being done to improve them, as professionals are working with companys, and with computer design, more possibilities can be tested before somebody actually makes the horn. I do think that recently though, the BBb tubas have also benefited from the cyber world as there are some really great playing BBb horns out there. I will add though, there are alot of great old BBb's on the market, from the golden years of american horn making. That's how I made my choice. The question for you is, what do you want to do with the horn? There are certainly differences in what you are looking for depending upon your goals. An orchestral horn may not be the best solo horn, and a quintet horn won't help you play dixieland. I'm sure if you let the board know a little more about yourself, and what you are trying to do, you will get some good information. Good Luck. ASG