Posted by bloke on March 19, 2004 at 11:41:25:
I see a lot of debate occurring here when band directors post on this board asking which 3/4 or which 4/4 makes/models tubas they should buy for their middle or high schools.
One of the first considerations should be DESIGN STYLE...almost as important these days as "brand".
Other guys who beat dents out of tubas and solder tubas back together will agree with me (and this I say without out even conducting a "poll" on the new forum)...
TOP-action tubas consistently end up with more busted solder joints, valve problems, and slide alignment problems than FRONT-action tubas.
Are FRONT-action tubas exempt from these problems? Of course not, but these types of problems on FRONT-action tubas are about 1/2 of those that occur with TOP-action.
Needless to say, bell dents and body dents are all equal. Kids do not discriminate regarding the styles of tubas that they choose to throw across the bandrooms of our great nation.
Finally (particularly considering today's non-civilized climate in the juvenile world induced by lack of parenting, hate/depression-filled music, and out-of-control behavior advocated nightly on television), ANY ROTARY TUBA is a poor choice as a school-owned instrument. The average time - in my experience - that the linkage of a school-owned rotary tuba stays in adjustment is about one month, and 4-6 months for the amount time school-owned rotary linkage remains free of actual damage or breakage.
All of these observations assume public schools (in urban AND suburban situations), though I've seen similar results in many private schools as well.