Originally Posted by
decent.beginner's.mom
My son loves the Dragon. Before ordering, I asked him multiple times if the school's tuba was full sized, and of course he said yes. The Dragon is much bigger than the one he's been using but he is 6 feet tall and has no problems reaching the valves. He likes where the thumb hole is located; vs the school's tuba.
"Full sized" is a rather vague description, and it's always better to do it in terms of actual measurements since people's perceptions differ. Similarly for the normal designations of tuba size as 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, etc. All relative in somewhat vague ways, especially since there are many parts and dimensions to a tuba. And I'm sure the tuba at school seemed MUCH bigger to him than his euphonium.
That Dragon looks like a very nice horn indeed, but it's BIG! Not a terribly large bore, but quite large diameter tubing in the final parts, bows, and bugle. And a 19" bell!!. It's also heavy. A Miraphone 186 (typical "full size" tuba, the Cerveny 781 BBb I used to play, and the Wessex Champion Eb I have now) all weigh in at around 18 lbs. So at a claimed 26 lbs., the Dragon is over 40% heavier than those "full size" tubas. And a Yamaha 321 BBb tuba (very often used by schools, and a full-size tuba) weighs in at almost exactly 20 lbs. So the Dragon is a pretty big honker. But that's great. He'll grow into it quickly and will appreciate the size as time goes on.
I don't know why you think he needs a different mouthpiece, but for a beginning tuba player (even with the euph experience), I would recommend starting with a Faxx 25 or maybe a Faxx 18 (NOT under ANY circumstances a 24AW of any sort). It's relatively inexpensive, won't be too big for him right off the bat, will be big enough, and he should use it until he learns what alternative he might prefer (which will require some experience/comparison). The Faxx pieces are high quality low cost reproductions of Bach mouthpieces. I think the 25 would be best as the 18 might be a bit large for him initially. Just my thoughts.
Addendum: If the mouthpiece he's using is the Wessex "HB" Helleberg-style mouthpiece, and if this is a faithful reproduction of the Helleberg, then I think it's likely that it's too big for him right now. I have never been able to use a full-size Helleberg mouthpiece (like the Conn or Schilke) easily and successfully. They just seem to suck the air out of my lungs.
Last edited by ghmerrill; 11-06-2018 at 02:57 PM.
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)