Posted by Paul R. Ogushwitz on July 07, 2000 at 07:01:54:
In Reply to: high schooler buying a tuba posted by Tubagirl on July 07, 2000 at 01:15:32:
Hi Julie.
First of all let's ignore Mr. Shiney-Isn't-Always-Better, who is imposing his own Should's (his own values) on your situation. And let's ignore Mr. Horace-Poufer, who is imposing a stereotype of young females on you. Let's take at face value that a clean, shiny instrument is required.
Second, a little confusion, perhaps, on your part. The type of valves is independent of the pitch of the instrument. So, you will find BBb tubas with either piston or rotary valves. Similarly, there are CC, Eb, F tubas (these are the common pitches) with either type of valve. On occasion, you will even find a combination of piston and rotary valves on a single instrument.
How you go about finding a tuba depends mostly on where you live and what you can afford to spend. If you live in a big city, there are more options. You might find a used instrument in good condition at a music store. It might help to contact local music groups (bands, orchestras) and ask for the names of tuba players in the area ... where there are tuba players, there are tubas, sometimes tubas for sale! You may get lucky by placing an ad in the paper or in a "classifieds" magazine. These same techniquies also work in smaller towns, of course, but the likelihood of finding a tuba may be smaller because of smaller population.
There's also the Web. Someone on this BBS may have one for sale. You might also try the classifieds section of Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com). Tubas are advertised on TubaDave (http://www.jps.net/tubadave/index6.htm), and from there I think there may be links to other tuba sale sites.
And then there's eBay (go to http://pages.ebay.com, press "Search" and do a "smart search" for "tuba" (for the broadest search, make the word "tuba" singular, not plural).
The disadvantage of buying an instrument off the net is that (unless you are lucky and find one within driving distance) you have to buy it before you can play it. And shipping an instrument is a hassle. In your situation I would recommend "start local and work outwards".
Good luck!