Posted by Fei Huang on June 13, 2002 at 11:47:34:
In Reply to: Chinese tubas?? posted by David on June 12, 2002 at 12:55:37:
Hello,
During one of my trips to China I went to a music shop in Beijing and tried out some instruments there. They had a tuba on display but would not let me play it. I tried some of their trumpets, cornets, and baritones though.
These instruments seemed to be replicas of designs found on old instruments (especially the baritone). From my experience I would strongly recommend against buying one. Even my mother, who knows nothing about brass instruments, commented to me that the instruments looked like they were of very low quality--and they were. One of the cornets I tried was decent considering how cheap it was (however it was missing a bottom valve cap so I didn't buy it) but one of the trumpets I tried had mysterious air leakage somewhere in the third valve that I could not locate nor could the store personell explain. In short it was not even playable. I doubt their tuba would've been any better.
If you are looking for an inexpensive tuba I would personally recommend that you buy a used one that you've TRIED first. I recently got a pretty good deal on a 4 valve BBb tuba. Although the tuba is far from perfect at least I got it from someone reputable that I've met in person and can get in contact with later on.
My opinion for what it's worth.
Fei Huang