Posted by Gary Swart on February 22, 2004 at 15:40:40:
In Reply to: Musica Tubas posted by Josh on February 21, 2004 at 17:44:06:
OK, been there and done that. Several years ago I had a tuba engraved, "Musica, Steyr, Austria". When I traveled to Europe, I wanted to see where my horn came from, so I went to Steyr. I got puzzled looks when I asked for directions the instrument "factory", but finally I got some directions and found not a factory but a distributorship. Probably due to my almost complete lack of German language and the not too much better English by the office secretary, I managed to learn that Musica was not a manufacturer but put their Musica label on instruments from several manufacturers. It was not unlike Sears and the Kenmore brand. It wasn't until later I spotted what appeared to be my tuba in a catalog. Upon checking measurements, I determined that I had an Amati tuba. I don't know any recent information about what manufactures supply Musica now, but that's the way it was back in '96. It's my opinion that because manufacturers are not going to retool to make instruments that will be sold as Musica, that there would be on significant difference in the "name brand" and Musica instruments. By the way, the folks at Steyr were most kind to a very ignorant tourist. They didn't laugh at me (at least until I left)