Re: Re: best Miraphone


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Posted by Rick Denney on January 26, 2004 at 22:01:42:

In Reply to: Re: best Miraphone posted by Tony Clements on January 26, 2004 at 13:58:16:

Thank you for that.

I have said on this forum before that I think the usual advice of sending a young player to a tuba superstore (or, worse, an elephant room) to "try them all out and see which one you like" presupposes the false assumption that young players have some way to evaluate the tubas they play. Young players in search of their first good horn don't know what they like, and might not recognize if they heard it. Or, they might like something not so good for all the wrong reasons.

So, what's a young player to do? Buy the most versatile and widely regarded instrument you can that's good enough not to hold you back for a period of four years. The versatility is needed because if it can be used in lots of situations, it can also be used by lots of players. Plus, a versatile tuba is easier to sell, because more people want it. The wide regard is needed so that when the player has matured enough to know what he wants, he can sell the instrument for close to what he paid for it. An instrument like a Miraphone 186 is indeed versatile, and it's used by enough pros to prove that it won't hold Scott back for many years, if ever.

It's simple: You can buy a nice, used Miraphone 186 (in BBb all you need is four valves) for at most $3000, and three or four years from now when you are good enough not to need our advice, you can sell it for, oh, $3000. Of course, you have to take meticulously good care of it. So, how about that? You get to rent a great tuba for as much time as it takes to learn what you like--for nothing.

I have taken this approach myself. Each time I launched in a new direction (F tuba, BAT, etc.) I started with a basic, versatile model bought used for a little money. I have sold those four instruments for a combined total that is about $200 less than what I paid for all of them together. That's cheap experimentation by any standard. And what I learned with these instruments is what I did and didn't like about that style of instrument, which helped me to make life-time choices for their replacement.

Personally, I think Scott's teacher is giving him excellent advice, whether or not he realizes why it's so good. The advice to try them all and then find the instrument that produces the sound in one's head is more suited to tuba players good enough to have a sound in their head.

Rick "who thinks a Miraphone 186 is one of very few tubas that can be reasonably bought sight unseen" Denney


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