Re: st pete tubas


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Posted by Matt G on July 24, 2001 at 08:26:42:

In Reply to: st pete tubas posted by me on July 24, 2001 at 00:08:36:

Here's the facts:
Since the St. Pete came onto the market for $3K, there have been many other horns come out at the same price or close to it. You can get a Schmidt/VMI 103, a Jupiter 4V, Weril 4V (much less money), Conn 5J, King 2341 (new or old), and maybe a few other within 10-15% of the $3k mark over/under. The St. Pete is therefore not a "stellar value" in this price range. I will say that thanks to this particular import, we now have many other, better options for a starter BBb tuba. And as far as playing as good as tuba "thousands of dollars more", so do many of these on the list. I have played a Yamaha YBB-641 that played better than a Nirschl Floyd-o-Phone. However, Yamaha does not use this ploy to sell their horns! By comparison, a St. Pete looks terrible IMO when played next to a King, Conn, or VMI. These three makers offer a very well built horn that have some excellent plaing characteristics. They may be a few dollars more, but when you decide to upgrade or sell for whatever reason, you will be more than likely many dollars ahead. And guess what else! For $3K there is a huge amount of horns in the used market that will be even better than most of the horns on this list. SO, when people say that the St. Petes are junk, they are offering it from the prospective from all of the other horns hey have tried for the same amount of money. However, they might not be nickel plated with a 5/4 bore, whatever that means!
If you like your St. Pete, then fine, but when you ask for facts (your going to get opinion on an open discussion) you will get negative feedback on that horn. I personally feel after seeing what the market has to bare, that a fellow tubists money is much better spent elsewhere.
Remember, those full page ads in the TUBA/ITEA journal aren't free so those St. Petes must have SOME markup. I know that it has professional representation, but find out from UMI how many professionals have used Conn 5J's and King 2341's as a professional axe for many years.
Maybe we should have Consumer Reports investigate....

Matt G


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