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