eBay is an excellent place to buy tubas. However, many of the sellers of tubas on eBay have no idea what they are selling. How do they get the tubas? Estate sales, closing of fraternal lodges (many had bands in times past), rummage sales, flea markets, disgruntled parents of formerly serious young tuba players, and secondhand stores are some sources where used tubas can be secured.
If you are the parent of a youngster who plays the tuba and you feel it necessary to purchase him/her an instrument, one of the first things you will learn is that tubas are very expensive. Because of the expense of a tuba, one should not try to find the least expensive instrument. I do not recommend any tuba brand because all of the well-known manufacturers make good tubas. The price range of tubas runs between $6,000 and $20,000. The average price is roughly about the price of a new Korean automobile. There are a few companies which make cheaper instruments--some are good and some are not.
What you first need to know about buying a tuba is that, unless your son/daughter has been told different, you want an upright tuba, pitched in BB-flat (pronounced "double B flat"). An upright tuba is one with the bell pointing upwards with the instrument resting in the player's lap. There are also tubas pitched in C, E-flat, and F. These are all good instruments. In the old days, young tuba players would begin playing the trumpet or cornet. He or she would then be handed an E-flat tuba because of its small size and reading music was not different from what the student knew from playing the trumpet. In fact, I started this way. The C and F tubas are used by serious tuba players because of their clearer tone. However, BB-flat and E-flat tubas are also used by professionals, so there is no reason to consider these lesser instruments. And you should buy a tuba with AT LEAST four valves. Many tubas have five valves. Some F tubas have six valves.
Here are the types of tubas you can expect to find on eBay:
UPRIGHT TUBA: Most amateur tuba players, without any formal tuba training, will consider this to be the tuba. The fact is, every instrument on this list is a tuba--if I were to blindfold the reader and play the same passage on all these instruments, chances are you could not distinguish any of the different types of tubas from others. Anyway, the upright tuba is just your basic tuba with the bell pointing up in the air. Incidentally, the first tubas appeared in Berlin, Germany, in 1835.
SOUSAPHONE: Often sellers will indicate, when selling a sousaphone, that it isn't a tuba. They play the same music, have the same length of tubing, and sound the same. The basic purpose of a sousaphone is to be played in a marching band. It generally is not used for anything else, although they were used for popular music in the 1920s. It first appeared in 1892 (anything made before is date cannot possibly be a sousaphone!) The sousaphone was named for John Philip Sousa, who inspired the idea of it. The idea he had of the sousaphone was a large instrument that would put the bass sound straight up in the air, spread over the top of the band "like icing on a cake." It was an improvement of an earlier instrument, the helicon, which appears later in this list. The first bell-front tuba appeared around 1907. The explanation of the bell-front configuration is explaned under the description of the recording bass. In 1960, sousaphones made of plastic (fiberglass) first appeared. I mention this because, in the interest of historical accuracy, some movies about life in the 1950s sometimes show the high school band with fiberglass sousaphones. With the popularity of drum and bugle corps in the 1970s, many bands began using the so-called marching tubas, which, unless they are convertible, really can't be used for anything else but marching.
RECORDING BASS: Sometimes incorrectly called a recording tuba, the original idea of this instrument was to replace the string bass in early phonograph recordings. The microphones used prior to the introduction of the electronic microphone in the late 1920s necessitated a bass instrument which could be aimed at the cereal box-type apparatus used for recording. So the front-bell, which is really called a recording bell, was introduced in 1907. Sousaphones also soon became equipped with recording bells, too. Some youngsters may cower when they here tubas referred to as "basses." This is what it says on most of the tuba parts in band music. Actually, this is not a bad term. It is the function the tuba was created to perform. So if you don't like your instrument referred to as a bass, get over it!
HELICON: Called the circular bass in England, the helicon was the original marching tuba, although upright tubas were used (and are still used in most of the world) for marching purposes. The helicon does, indeed, have a circular shape. The bell does not point straight up, but is angled. The sousaphone has a bend in the tubing over the left shoulder, making it have a completely different shape. The helicon first appeared in the early 1850s.
MARCHING TUBA: Inspired by the contabass bugles used by drum and bugle corps, these first appeared in the early 1970s, although the first ones were actually upright tubas with the mouthpipe in a different location. The marching tuba appears to be an upright tuba which rests on the player's shoulder and is aimed forward. Many young tubists, brainwashed by the idea of the "magnificence" of the drum and bugle corps will think this is the best overall tuba for every purpose. The truth is poor tone quality is amplified and balance is difficult. For those of you who do not care for my attitudes about drum and bugle corps, this comes from my following several corps in the late 1970s. There is a reason why there are no professional drum and bugle corps (other than military ones.) The novelty wears off quickly. (And, to my critics, I listen to every new corps show that comes around, so I am not ignorant in this regard.) There is really no purpose to buy this kind of instrument, except for football half-time shows.
BACK BELLED TUBA: This instrument appeared briefly around the time of the American Civil War. Both Union and Conderate military bands used the back-belled instruments. Their one drawback: a terrible echo. Any of these instruments found on eBay are best left to a museum or for the purpose of novelty.
If you have any questions, contact me through eBay. I am the LoyalTubist.
Orignal From: Buying Tubas (a guide for parents)
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