Posted by Leland on December 08, 2003 at 19:24:44:
In Reply to: Buying Advice posted by Jordan B on December 07, 2003 at 23:52:29:
My preference for a horn back then was the one I could get cheapest from someone I could trust -- in this case, a tuba player who was also an instrument repairman.
You don't have to settle for a bottom-rung brand new tuba when there could be a fundamentally better horn being sold by someone you might know. Or, at least, sold by someone who knows someone who knows someone that you know... ya know? ;-) Talk to everyone you know, have your parents talk to everyone they know, get in touch with a community band or three and check out every repair shop in town. I'm willing to bet that more used tubas are sold by word-of-mouth than are sold by ads in catalogs or newspapers.