THANK YOU for all of your assistance in helping me with my euphonium purchases - instrument, mouth pieces and music - a few years ago.

I bought my then 11yo (I think) son a Wessex 4 valve; Dolce. He transitioned from the beginner Yamaha to the Wessex with great success. He's not often careful, but treated the Wessex with great care.

I recently washed both instruments and the Wessex has only a few very minor dents. The Yamaha was beat up when I bought it, was probably abused by my son/his band mates, and I recently had it overhauled so my beginning daughter can use it.

My son's band teacher has encouraged him to switch to the tuba; as their only tuba player is graduating next spring.

So, I bought my son the Wessex Dragon.

When I purchased the Dolce, the communication from Wessex was outstanding. Perhaps this was because they still had the Michigan site. I purchased the last Dragon on the website, but then did not receive any communication from Wessex; except the order confirmation. Although the website says in stock orders ship within 48 hours, mine did not. Emails to them went unanswered; which was VERY different than my 1st purchase. It took over a week to receive a shipping confirmation.

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.

He said that the build quality of the Dragon feels much better than the Dolce. I think he needs to purchase a different mouth piece, but is extremely happy with his new instrument; and his sister will play the Dolce when she's ready.

Thanks again for all of the wisdom -

Deb