Search For Nirvana

[Stryk]

Since I retired, I have been searching for the right horn and the right mouthpiece. I've watched many people do this for an entire career. Since almost all of my purchases, except for my last one, were for used horns and mouthpieces, I didn't even have the cost of a new moderately priced horn in the whole lot of them (24 tubas and 40 some mouthpieces). Well, Nirvana has been found. My new Alexander 163 with a Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand, Orchestra Grand shank, and a #2 Fair Dinkum rim (32.6) are, for me, Nirvana. As time goes on, I will be thinning the herd. Some will never go, others have already made an exit. I will likely end up with 6 tubas and a rack of mouthpiece oddities. For some of us, Nirvana does exist, and I wish all of you good fortune finding yours!

[bloke]

As many have read - in my absurdly-too-numerous posts - I look for "easy".
"A really amazing type of sonority" rates fairly high on my list (as it seems to rate at #1 with many others), but it is absolutely not #1 on my list.

Those who are looking for a $XXX - $XXXX (or, if fortunate - an extended-term $XXXXX) tubist (or even - occasionally - a highfalutin tubiste), aren't shopping for "sonority", they are shopping for reliable and competent (ie. "doesn't suck").

me...??
I like to be in the running for the (more-and-more rarely offered) various quantities of $'s, and "NON-challenging intonation tendencies" combined with "easy to get around on" and "somewhat forgiving" top my list. Over the years, though, I've been able to add in "really nice sonority" to my (various) instrument(s) via buying/testing/selling/replacing (and - not all that rarely, it seems) assembling my own stuff.

Currently EVERYTHING I own (9' - times two or three, 12' - times two, 13', 16', 18' - times three) offers grab-and-go play-ability (no "practicing to remind myself of goofy quirks" required), and (via years of selling/replacing) ALSO very nice sonority. Finally - even for the 6/4 "huge-resonant-broad-bass-sound-just-by-blowing-into-the-thing" debacle, I've even come up with an answer to that quest.

A collection of grab-and-go's - each one fitting into various types of places - has allowed me to work more securely and (even amongst those who know I don't view things - socio-economically - as do they) tends to cause the phone to ring, when someone needs some tubist/tubiste work that really matters to them.

new Alex C tubas: I'm convinced that more thought has gone into them, as they are much easier to steer than those "good old" ones. I'm delighted that you're delighted with it.

me:


bloke "technically 'retirement age' but - being self-employed - there's really no such thing, and - with hyperinflation, now - I suspect many with pensions and 401K's are going to soon discover the same."

[bone-a-phone]

Rorschach test birdshot spatter pattern

[bort2.0]

Congratulations, Terry! That's a gorgeous tuba, and as a recent Alexander 163 owner myself, I certainly "get it."

One important distinction to make, IMO, is that what you've found as Nirvana for you NOW may NOT have been Nirvana for you 10, 20, 30+ years ago. Nor did that same tuba exist in that form at that time (that is, the 163 was reinvented 10-15? years ago....) If a younger version of Terry had been shopping for a new 163 in the 1970s, your luck would have been different with a 1970s-new 163. Oh, and that mouthpiece sure didn't exist until recently either. And conversely, if both of these they HAD existed then, there's no way of knowing if it would have worked quite as well for you then as it does now.

That tuba + that mouthpiece work well for the May 2022 version of Terry.

All to say -- there are just too many variables in life, and I hope you just appreciate where you are now, and don't think "I wish I had this 40 years ago." Because while that's nice to dream about, it's not reality.

People change over time -- we learn, we develop different likes/dislikes/change our minds/priorities, and we change physically (lung capacity, increased/decreased physical strength, dental stuff, etc...)

Tubas and mouthpieces don't change though. They are constant, except for things like damage, wear and tear, and maintenance... which are generally predictable and repairable. I hope that whatever changes come in your life ahead, that this tuba and mouthpiece combo will bring you the same amount of joy as it does today. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. For me, I see it as what's easier, changing the tuba or changing as a player? Often, it's much easier to change the tuba. Just a few thoughts of mine, based on my own experience buying and selling a LOT of stuff. Only thing saving me here is that while I've paid fair prices for used gear, I don't have the money or room to have very many things at the same time. I don't think there should be more tubas than people in my house. Anyway, I'm rambling...

I hope you've enjoyed the journey TO this tuba tremendously, and hope you will enjoy your journey WITH this tuba tremendously as well.

[Doc]

I don't think there should be more tubas than people in my house.

Speak for yourself, pal!

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[Bob Kolada]

Hell, I live alone. 2 tubas, 2 euphs, one Bobhorn, a bass trombone and a bass guitar- I'm overrun and don't stand a chance.

[bloke]

[humBell]

Hell, I live alone. 2 tubas, 2 euphs, one Bobhorn, a bass trombone and a bass guitar- I'm overrun and don't stand a chance.

May i ask, what is a Bobhorn?

[bloke]

[Tuba1153]

I don't think there should be more tubas than people in my house.

Speak for yourself, pal!



IMG_8813.JPG

I am just sitting here whistling.

[Bob Kolada]

Hell, I live alone. 2 tubas, 2 euphs, one Bobhorn, a bass trombone and a bass guitar- I'm overrun and don't stand a chance.

May i ask, what is a Bobhorn?

I can't seem to post a picture but it's basically an upright, valved Eb bass trombone. JC Sherman built it for me years ago; I was having some physical issues playing bass trombone and wanted a valved instrument that sounded similar.

Here, from JC's website.


A 3 valve Eb is the cheapest way to get a low Bb and A which is essential for a bass trombone substitute. Valve set is from a King baritone, bell is from a marching G baritone. In hindsight .590 would probably have been better because I was a fat sounding bass trombonist; but, that would have been a hard valve set to find. I named it after myself. This is probably closer to those F valved Cerveny things than a big bore, monster soundtrack playing cimbasso which was the intent. Theoretically I could sneak this in to play bass trombone parts, a big cimbasso might not be as well received.
Intonation is excellent, 5th partial is flat (G is close, 12 E is closer) and everything else is spot on. The biggest problem is playing a 3 valve instrument- I usually pull 2 for 123 combos, most 13 and 23 combos are fine with the same 3rd valve setting. Low range is ok but different, I haven't found the right mouthpiece yet. I'm using a Josef Klier KBP 2C. It works ok here but I think I need bigger. That 2C, by the way, is an excellent big bass trombone (think quintet and trombone or brass choirs) and euph/mini tuba mp; much, much better than my old Schilke 60.

I want to get a stock length 1st main slide and get the bottom of the 1st valve slide cut so I can play it in E natural for all the rock bands I don't play in anymore. That seems like a good mod to focus on.

[bloke]

@Stryk

When you finally make it up here, bring that thing with you. The only time I’ve had a chance to play a recent-vintage Alexander C was for about three minutes in a non-climate-controlled storage building. … and that tuba can afford to have at least one more person ooh and ahh over it.

[Stryk]

@bloke
LOL - will do. It is the only horn I have ever owned that requires NO slide manipulation or conscious lipping from me. To do that, I need to use 1/3 on G, and play the octave in the staff using the same fingerings as the octave below the staff - something I have always done on my Mirafones (in addition to some slide pulling/pushing). Is there really a horn that is made that requires no alternate fingerings, no slide manipulation, and no conscious lipping? Not being a smartass, that is a serious question.

[bloke]

The B-flat behemoth requires moving the #1 slide only in a 2 inch range, with the fifth partial C and B just about all the way in.
Anti-mathematically, some of the 1 pitches are slightly farther out than any of the 1-2 pitches, but the most important thing is that none of those little movements are epically far nor frantic.
As with so many tubas, the fourth partial 2-3 F-sharp is the flattest of the 23 combination pitches, but it’s one of those really flexible pitches that don’t suffer when pushed sharper.
(As I’ve said quite a few times, ‘having to manipulate a third slide’ is a nonstarter for me.)
As to your 1-3 G situation, The newer-vintage Alexander that I played didn’t seem to demand that, and I would encourage you to revisit that with a tuner - once your instrument is WELL warmed up (ie. has actually absorbed a good bit of your own body heat, from you playing it for quite a while). The behemoth third partial F is saggy UNTIL the instrument is warmed up, but that is because the place where the node of that sine wave is located in the is way down in the big part of the instrument, and requires considerable (“complete”) warm-up before it is up to pitch.
…so in any band concert, this thing would never offer any saggy F’s, but - in a typical orchestra concert - it could.

[Stryk]

As to your 1-3 G situation, The newer-vintage Alexander that I played didn’t seem to demand that, and I would encourage you to revisit that with a tuner - once your instrument is WELL warmed up (ie. has actually absorbed a good bit of your own body heat, from you playing it for quite a while).

Good point. Anytime I've every REALLY worked with a tuner, the horn was relatively cold. I'm aiming for point and shoot - completely. I love this horn so much that if it needs 1/3 on G, I'll make it work. It may just be me that is faulty. The two other people who have played the horn had no problem with with adjustments on any pitch. Your mileage may vary!

[donn]

I can't seem to post a picture but it's basically an upright, valved Eb bass trombone. JC Sherman built it for me years ago

Is it this one?

[bloke]

An upright bass trombone would certainly be more convenient, but I'm gathering everything up to built one that resembles the shape of an F "cimbasso" - as live music (at least 90%, yes?) is visual, and I really believe (in orchestra concerts) I need my bell to be pointed in the "trombone" direction.