Posted by Rick Denney on September 07, 2002 at 21:13:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: If handmade is better - why? posted by Volker on September 07, 2002 at 09:55:58:
I don't think pros buy a hand-made tuba because it is hand made, but they buy the tuba that works for them and it happens to be hand-made. I think in most cases it's the hand-tweaking that makes the difference.
And, yes, I think the Conn description is PR. It was written at a time when people were amazed by machines and thought items made using machines naturally better. As others have said, they may be better and they may not--it depends on the quality of the work. The same hype works in reverse now, but it still may be hype.
I'm not sure those humps and bumps, such as they are, are all that much a problem. Most of those old Conn sousaphones play just fine with a collection of humps and bumps collected during years of hard use.
Rick "whose hype detector was ringing loudly hearing Volker quote Conn" Denney