Posted by yikes on September 03, 2001 at 10:17:08:
In Reply to: "Blind Date" with a tuba posted by Bugalugs on September 03, 2001 at 01:07:26:
It's nice to read about so many people who have good luck. I'm the other side of this coin. I've purchased two tubas blind. Both cases have been disasterous.
The first tuba I bought on e-bay was a Mirafone 184, which is a hard horn to find. I agreed to purchase this horn "as-is". The problem was, the seller's description of the horn was far from honest. In this case, the word "vintage" was interchangable with "worn out". Even specific questions I asked in e-mails weren't answered truthfully. Pictures of the horn were at the best possible angle to hide damage. When I got the horn, I knew I had been taken, but decided to make the best of it. After several hundred dollars of repair work just to make the horn playable (replacing the lead-pipe which was leaking in eight places, for example), I was never satisfied, and ended up selling the horn at a great loss. My favorite part? The seller included in the deal a mint condition 184 bell that he said he was going to put on the horn. As it turns out, the newer bell had apparently been cut and (as I'm sure the seller knew) wouldn't fit on the horn. It sits in my basement, a daily reminder of my bad purchase.
The most recent mistake (my last, I assure you) was a tuba being sold on e-bay by a prominent tubist. I bid on the horn, in part because of the reputation of the seller. When the horn arrived, it looked in perfect shape, but I noticed a catch in the 4th valve. I took it to Matt W. to make sure the valve was ok. It turns out that some "ham-fisted" repair work had been done at some point which would cost several hundred dollars to fix. As it turns out, the horn had belonged to a student of this prominant player/seller who knew nothing of the history of the horn. He let me return the horn, but I was lucky it just cost me shipping (both ways).
Let me just add that I have gone to Brasswind, Dillons and Baltimore Brass just to try horns. I recently went with a friend and tried four different MW 45 SLPs at one of these stores. I was amazed by the difference in the four horns. I thought one was great, two ok, and one was a dog. My friend liked the one I liked, but also the one I hated. Go figure. Everyone plays differently. The horn the salesman picks to ship to you may not be the one that is perfect for you. Go play 'em.