Re: Meinl Westion Hilgers F tubas


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Posted by Matt Walters on September 26, 2002 at 19:19:45:

In Reply to: Meinl Westion Hilgers F tubas posted by Christian Klein on September 26, 2002 at 10:56:47:

Christian,
The main reason the Hilgers tubas are not stocked, is that they are more expensive. As an example, the Hilgers 45 H-L costs almost $2,000 more to the dealer than the similar 45S-LZ. I understand the Hilgers is a hand built horn. The goldbrass one is. That means the branches are hand hammered out of sheet brass for a more uniform thickness. Mike Bunn of the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra had me order him a 45 H-LGQ. That's Large, Goldbrass, and Quint valve. That turned out to be a great horn.

If you are going to play test horns and then pick the one you like, then production horns offer the best bang for the buck. If what you want is a little off the beaten path and it is going to be a special (non-returnable) order, then you want to make sure the guys building it put a little extra TLC into that horn. When Mike ordered his Hilgers, the 45S-LZ was not available. It's the combination of little things that makes one horn stand out from the others.

By the way, that optional quint valve has the advantage of letting you go into the low register without hitting pedal notes and changing the timbre of the horn.
So the answer to your question about why most dealers stock similar horns from the same manufacturer is that the manufacturer prices horns to encourage which ones we buy. The dealer has to stock what is most likely to sell in the shortest period of time.

As for the valve combination, it is again the market. In over 8 years with Dillon Music, I have only had 4 requests about a 6 valve F tuba. We Americans typically see the F tuba as the sports car in the garage to pull out on sunny weekends. Spending a lot of extra money on a horn that seldom earns it's keep, doesn't make sense for most people. Hense, they go with the lowest price that will do the job. Does that explain to you why most American companies don't stock the more esoteric (and expensive) F tubas?
Matt



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