New versus Old


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Posted by Eric Ferreira on September 06, 2001 at 03:17:08:

Yesterday, I posted a message regarding my present situation. I own a circa 1988 Kalison Daryl Smith 5-valve CC tuba. I have been the owner for about three years now. Lately, as I have been becoming more familiar with the horn, the more disappointed I have become. The intonation is always a big question mark, along with various other disturbing things. I am always the first to blame myself when I play something badly or out of tune, but I have noticed that some of the notes intonation-wise are not even in the ballpark. Anyhow, I am not posting this to discuss possible solutions to these problems or to ask advice on how to play it better.
A scenario that plays through my head is selling my Kalison, which I could probably get about $4000 for, and saving up about another $3000 and buying a brand new horn (different manufacturer) for about $7000. Which leads me to my question. How much would I really be upgrading, if at all? I am not kidding myself into thinking that I can get the perfect, problem-free horn for what I am willing to spend. I am imagining that a brand new version of my Kalison would go for about $7000, but I could be wrong. Or, with my hypothetical $7000 budget, is brand-new even the way to go? Would I be better off investing that money into a tried and true used horn from a reliable source? Keep in mind that I would aim for a more mainstream manufacturer (Yamaha and Meinl Weston are the first to come to mind) so $7000 would land me one of their cheaper horns. Would it be an upgrade? Downgrade? Lateral move? Please give any input pertaining to my questions. Thanks!


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