I love the sound of the tubaphone as much as anything...Somewhere I read that Grampa Jones played a ball bearing mid 20's gibson{resonated} but gave it up for a Gibson open back so he could do tricks with it...I think this is from George Gruhen's book..I've been wrong before...Being the stage man he was I'm shore he owned ALL of the above mentioned instroments!!!! Just latly I got a 1926 Ball bearing Mastertone ,took off the resonater ,put on a fiberskin head and am completly in love!!!I mostly frail like a rythum guitar player giving background for fiddling.... I've used the Tubaphone as a main instroment for years and it works so well with and without a resonater...I would be hard pressed to pick between the tuaphone voice and the early Mastertone for realy good frailing at a square dance...The claraty comes from the tone ring{some volume as well}but alot of the mellow thing is from the drum-head ..Ofcorce I agree the biggest presence comes from the hand of the player...What a great frailer Grampa Jones was and what an insperation to us all!!!! My best to everyone, Guy