Flat Tuba

[Tim Jackson]

I have a nice Elkhart (Buescher) upright three-valve tuba. I have not done much playing on it but since I'm selling it I gave it a good workout with the
tuner this morning. Seems like the horn is about 5 cents low. I had it warmed up nicely but with the tuning slide in it is low.

The horn has been professionally cleaned and has no major damage. It looks like a "step-up" nicely made instrument with a satin finish and gold wash 22' bell. I don't think this is low-pitch. It's hard to trace Elkhart Band Instrument serial numbers. #246078 to determine how old it is.

The horn is well cared for and in great condition. I can tell some played it for 15-20 years so you would think the pitch had some kind of work-around.

There is plenty of length on the tuning slides to shorten if that becomes a needed option.

Any ideas or remedies are appreciated.

Tim

[arpthark]

Not a remedy but a commiseration -- the Bueschers of that vintage that I have owned have all been much more comfortable playing around A=438 than 440. Short of playing with a shallower mouthpiece or cutting the main bugle at some point, I'm not sure what other solutions there are.

[Grumpikins]

Oh man. That's purty. I wish I could grab it. Anyway, my Eb is low too. About halfway between D and Eb. Have been trying to figure this out also. I honestly think there were some smaller mps back when they made these things. Is the reciever on the small side too....?

[bloke]

Those main slide ferrules could probably be shortened down to a quarter of an inch. A lot of the mouthpieces that I've seen made during that time are not as deep as most of them that seem to be used these days.

' cool tuba

[Pauvog1]

No advice other than, I typically find that helleberg II style mouthpieces (Sellmansberger version, Schilke, and 30H) tend to run slightly higher / sharper than other stuff I usually play.

[bloke]

No advice other than, I typically find that helleberg II style mouthpieces (Sellmansberger version, Schilke, and 30H) tend to run slightly higher / sharper than other stuff I usually play.

I think that's correct. In the past, I had some Chinese knockoff of a PT (Dillon eBay offering long ago) that was obviously an HbII inside shape, and it would play barely flat tubas up to pitch. (I just remembered that - as Paul reminded me.)

[Tim Jackson]

I will probably let the next owner shorten the tuning slides. I calculated 20 cents is about 1 inch on the tuning slide.
Also, I tried my Bobo solo piece - it did help considerably.

tj

[Tim Jackson]

Sadly, I spent $2500 on a lathe several months ago and been to busy to mess with it. I have lots of mouthpieces that are dying to become sacrificial lambs for this tuba.

Seems like the holidays are always a perfect time to piddle.

tj

[Stryk]

I have a couple Beuscher mouthpeices and they have one thing in common - very shallow!

[windshieldbug]

Was someone looking for a flat tuba?

[DonO.]

Was someone looking for a flat tuba?

When I saw the title of the original thread this exactly what I thought of!

I remember back when I was teaching (80’s?), I got a catalog from a company, I don’t remember the name of it, that offered a service they called a “flat finale”. Let’s say you’re a high school band kid and you DON’T want to keep playing after graduation. For a price, you could send this company your instrument and they would put it under an industrial hydraulic press. I imagine kind of like the one that smashed the robot in the “Terminator” movie. They promised that any pats- keys, etc. - that came off would be soldered back in approximately the correct places. Then they would frame it as wall art and send it back to you.

[tadawson]

F.W.A. would have been another appropriate name/acronym for that gaggle of imbeciles ^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^y^h^h^u^h^h^h^h company . . . :-) :-)

[Grumpikins]

I have a couple Beuscher mouthpeices and they have one thing in common - very shallow!

I would be very interested to know some dimensions on those mouthpieces if you have a way to measure them. Very curious.... thanks.

[Mary Ann]

I know this isn't the for sale forum, but I have a friend who may want to morph to tuba, and he is happiest with three top valves, pretty, and a shallow cup. So I would ask, via PM if you prefer, how much you want for it, if it's not already gone.