Posted by Mike Knox on June 10, 2000 at 14:22:43:
In Reply to: Re: St. Petersburg tuba posted by Matt A on June 10, 2000 at 12:46:54:
I am a "semi-pro tubist" my primary personal horn is an Alex CC, early 70's vintage.
I play several other horns depending upon the circumstance.
When my son entered high school, I began the search for a Tuba for him.
This was in 1994. I eventually bought him a St. Pete. from Tuba Exchange.
The horn did him well all the way through H.S. He is now a second year freshman
and an active player.
The St. Pete. HAS some problems, but none insurmountable. His Tuba is an early example of the St. Pete's and has an american made ball and socket linkage. I am not sure yet even with six years of observation if I like this ball and socket design. There's lots of room for wobble in it. But the Alex ball and socket design has spoiled me. There was a problem with this early on, the carriage for the linkage broke. Inspection revealed the braces were undersized, and so I had auxiliary bracing installed. There have been no further problems there. Recently, his 1st valve spontaneously went out of alignment, but was only a bad neoprene "cork".
After 6 years the biggest problem has been the appearance of the horn. The nickle plating has worn through to bare brass in several locations (next to the thumb ring where the palm rests, tuning slides, etc.). I can't really say that the metallurgy was bad and that the brass alloy is too soft. He's a typical kid, and his horn got dents. They were easy to roll out.
One of HIS students got a St. Pete. last year. So I got to see some of the evolution of the horn. It appeared to me that the valves were better, had a smoother action. The bracing was definitely better. The sound was nearly identical. For me, it was rich and full in all registers. (both horns) Survival of the plating or relative hardness of the brass alloy remains to be seen.
One of my teachers (John Richardson of the Oregon Symphony) always used to say that it was our job as Tubists to learn and overcome the limitations of any given instrument. That's really true. He could make any instrument sound good just by adjusting himself.
Learn to do that, and any instrument will work from a $100 beater to a $20,000 custom made
trophy.