Well, the most recent parts of this thread are now over two years old, right? So very likely things have changed a lot. When I started reading it (noticing only that there was a new posting and not looking at the dates of the earlier ones), I was totally shocked to see that TE was letting people try a horn that didn't work well -- and was totally inconsistent with my own experience with my Mack Brass horn. But that problem report was about five years ago! Likewise, the concern about parts. I believe that both Tom and Jonathan Hodgetts (Wessex) have stated online that getting parts is not a problem with these horns. At least not any more of a problem than with any other horns, and we've all seen stories about difficulties in getting some German or British parts as well. But getting parts -- for virtually anything -- is always something of a concern. Don't know exactly how I'd get genuine replacement parts for the 1924 Buescher I have. And I do know that I can get parts for the Cerveny -- but they are far from reasonably priced! (However, I can get some Chinese-made replacement parts for things like the valve keys that are drop-in replacements, and for a lot less. Actually, the entire assembled set including keys and the linkage is less than half of what Cerveny wants for just the linkages themselves.)
In terms of talking to the Chinese manufacturers, they naturally want to do a wholesale business and not a retail or customer service business directly with owners. Nonetheless, a couple of years ago when I contacted one through some AliBaba link, I got a response in about a day. I asked if their cases were available independently of the instruments. The answer was "No", but it came quickly and politely.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)