Posted by Brad on June 09, 2003 at 14:01:36:
Hello. I've been very aggravated with the tubas we are supposed to play at school (silver plated beat up Dynasty 845's) that I dug around and found a recently repaired Olds tuba. It's 3/4 size, 3 front action pistons, and looks very old. I does not play good because the third valve was factory made way too flat, almost a semitone flat (G flat sounds more like a somewhat sharp F). The serial number is in the 85000 range.
Someone who quit band brought back the tuba they used to practice on. It's a Caravelle tuba. It has 3 front action valves, is a small 3/4 size because of the way the tubing is coiled around so many times, and is a removable bell-foward type. It's serial number is 68709.
It's very ironic. My band director always says we'll get big 4/4 size brand new tubas, and every year for the past 5 years he's been asking the principal for money for them, and every year the principal, in all his glory, cuts our funding back. This year we are only going to get $5000, barely enough for the basics. I've taken inventory of the school's tubas. There are 6 silver Dynasty's, 5 of which can play for concerts and 4 of which can be converted for marching. There is the one Olds, the one Caravelle, and two King 2350 fiberglass Sousaphones.
Let me tell you them 6 Dynasty's don't look anything like they did 10 years ago in this picture.