Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Buying a Euphonium or Baritone from Canada

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Welland, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    6

    Buying a Euphonium or Baritone from Canada

    First of I want to thank all of the contributors to this forum. I have been browsing the site fairly regularly for the past few months and there is a wealth of information about euphoniums from all over the world.

    I am a former b-flat bass (tuba) player. I started on a Getzen cornet some 20 years ago and played that for about 2 years, needed to get orthodontic work done so my embrouchure couldn't handle the small mouthpiece and was up-sized to what I recall as a bell-front american style euphonium (we called it a baritone at that time in New Jersey) - played that for two years. Moved back to Canada and joined a local brass band playing mainly marches and hymns as a b-flat bass player for about 6 years. Then moved away again and haven't played since (about 10 years).

    I now want to pick-up playing again and decided that I want to try for either euphonium or baritone horn since I see them both as potential solo instruments compared to the bass. I rented a Yamaha YEP-201 for a few months and thoroughly enjoyed it but couldn't justify the rental fee for too long knowing it was not a long term investment. My main goal would be for my own personal enjoyment and the occasional accompaniment of a church event or family hymn sing.

    My budget is less than $1000 Canadian which translates to approx. $750 (according to Google)

    I live in the Niagara area of Ontario, Canada and there isn't an abundance of music stores carrying brass instruments nor are their many used brass instruments to come by. I keep coming back to the names Jinbao, Wessex and Mack and it sounds like these are the best options to get a hold of an instrument at an affordable price. My one major problem is that the current exchange rate from Canadian to US Dollars adds 30% to everything coming out of the states. It also seems that a lot of brass instruments on ebay are based on the US dollar.

    I guess my questions are:

    1) has there been much experience from other members in buying direct from China through ebay? Based on some of the prices of Jinbao branded horns this would probably be my best bargain

    2) has there been much experience with some of the lesser known "stencils" like Monzani or Stagg? I have seen these offered at reasonable prices as well

    I am leaning toward a four valve euphonium as I would love to be able to hit the low notes if I wanted to drop an octave but if a baritone is more affordable I could go with that instead.

    Looking forward to your thoughts.

    Jeremy Korevaar

  2. #2
    Welcome to the forum!

    There is already some good discussion about Jin Bao and other stencil brands, as well as buying from China. But maybe some of the folks with experience will chime in.

    In the meantime, if you go to the main home page of this site (linked in the menu) and use the search form there, you get better search results than with the forum's search. Here are a couple examples:

    SEARCHED FOR "CHINA"
    https://www.google.com/search?q=jin+...te:dwerden.com

    SEARCHED FOR "JIN BAO"
    https://www.google.com/search?q=jin+...ch=dwerden.com
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  3. I live in Michigan and have demoed most Wessex offerings. My favourite, even over the Dolce, is their British Baritone BR140. In lacquer it's $750.

    I play a lot of solos in church with an occasional foray into ensemble music. It sounds like I use the instrument a lot like you would. I'll be playing it with a bit bigger mouthpiece than is normally used on a British baritone. With the bigger mouthpiece it is closer to a euphonium sound -- and I like it.

    Not sure about the tax ramifications, but it might be worth your while to drive to Wessex in Spring Lake, MI to buy. I've been there 3 times and had a great time demoing their instruments. Call Andy and he'll have any instrument ready you want. I've played all their iterations of the Dolce, British baritones and many tubas. They all are a great value.

    Good Luck! KKORO

  4. #4
    I have a Monzani (which as you note is a 4 valve compensating stencilled Jinbao). I have had it about a year now having bought it online from Musicstore Professional in Germany. It's the 1150L (lacquered) but they have recently added a silver plated 1150S to their range. I can't speak for the silver plated horn, but my lacquered one is excellent value. Intonation is pretty good, it's free blowing and has a nice warm tone. The instrument was also clean and ready to play on arrival. I have read that some Jinbao direct from China need a heavy clean and a lot of valve seasoning before they play well, but my valves worked in very quickly with regular oiling and I haven't had any black gunk to deal with. I'm very happy with the horn. Let me know if you want to know anything specific about it.
    Cheers
    Tim

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Welland, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    6
    Thank you all for your input and advice.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •