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We haven't had one of these threads in quite a while, so here's one. Maybe I'm the perfect target, because I do so many alterations to my own instruments. That having been said, every alteration that I make on my instruments has to do with circuit length, the ability to change circuit length more easily, or changing the length of the entire instrument in ways that I view are of benefit. Rarely, I've also changed things in favor of holding an instrument more comfortably in some sort of way.

Feel free to ridicule me for those - along with anything else, but what I'm talking about is all of the things that are questionable or just don't seem to add up, as far as having either a positive or a negative effect on an instrument's playing characteristics. Go ahead and start posting about them, and those of us who embrace those things can enjoy having our feelings hurt.

Can I hurt your feelings by not posting anything?

I am a massive skeptic about a lot of things (probably not as much as bloke, but still fairly skep't'cul), and I think that almost anything that you do to your instrument that doesn't impact the internal shape/geometry of the instrument or your mouthpiece is fairy dust.

Heavy-wall mouthpieces? Is the mouthpiece vibrating?

But, to each their own--I'm sure a lot of stuff is (simply) player feedback, which IS important. If it makes a difference to you, it makes a difference, because you are the one playing your instrument. But I don't think the audience or even an intently-listening well-meaning tuba-playing colleague or significant other can tell much of a difference whether you are playing with heavy-weight valve caps, stainless steel vs. silver-plated brass mouthpiece, or whatever. And I am sure a lot of folks will disagree with me, which is okay. Do what makes you happy.

arpthark wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:28 am Heavy-wall mouthpieces? Is the mouthpiece vibrating?

I was once test driving Dave Fedderly's personal 2145. When I put my Deck 3 in it something started buzzing and rattling on the horn. Dave stopped, walked over and said "what did you do to my horn?" so I showed him the mouthpiece. I put in a couple others and it didn't make the same sound, but I could replicate it each time with the Deck 3. Dave used this to find the buzz and address it. I have no idea if the effect of the mouthpiece weight on the sound coming out of the horn was a thing or not. I do know the horn physically responded differently with that mouthpiece.

I have no idea what ACTUALLY works to make an instrument play better. I do know "better" is largely subjective, so what is better for Player A may not be better for Player B. Because of that, I try to stay open-minded and try things so I can generate my own conclusions from the information gathered. Alan Baer says a horn will never play its best until the bell has been damaged (or words to that effect).

All that being said, EVERYONE knows silver is better than lacquer or raw brass.

I'd wager (only a little bit) that the shank tapers didn't quite match.

silver = bright sound
lacquer = dark sound
raw brass = brown sound

Everyone knows that the most perfect tuba is a 6/4 CC with raw gold brass bell, silver bugle, and everything else lacquered. It has Saturn water keys, an AGR, a second valve and MTS slide kicker. It has been cryogenically frozen. It is made with a mix of York and Martin Mammoth parts with either King or Conn short action pistons. It is made of 80:20 hand hammered brass.It was picked out of a batch of 10 by Gene Pokorny. I am selling it even though it is the greatest, most in-tune tuba even made that actually plays for you but my playing needs have changed.

May I just have the 2nd slide kicker, and nothing else?

You know...
Those are difficult to install on rotary tubas UNLESS the pair of 2nd slide outside tubes are absolutely perfectly aligned and the geometry of the slide bow lines up with those two outside slide tubes absolutely on the nose, because BOTH of those tubas are soldered - all the way down - to adjacent tubes.

Part of the high price for a factory-installed one is due to the realities/issues described just above.

bloke "2-4 is already challenging (acoustically) without it being several inches too short for the desired pitch...and 5-2-3 is way too damn long."

I forgot about cryonic freezing. File that next to the Lefreque under unadulterated quackery.

Potentially controversial: What do we think about leadpipe lifted off the bell?

arpthark wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:13 am I forgot about cryonic freezing. File that next to the Lefreque under unadulterated quackery.

Potentially controversial: What do we think about leadpipe lifted off the bell?

I just worked with a professional tuba player who buys into the less contact to the bell mouthpipe thing. I didn't argue, and just worked to realize their wishes. The mouthpipe itself on that instrument is ovaled due to damage and repair. I suspect that the instrument would play differently and possibly better were graduated balls pulled through the last 12 or so inches of the mouthpipe - that curve around the bell - to round the bore, and I believe this would have more of a profound effect than soldered to the bell or not, but that's me.

I believe they are coming back in the fall for me to remove vertical play from 40-year-old rotors too eliminate clicking noises, and they are now thinking about having me (possibly) anneal and round the mouthpipe in the damaged area. I'm not sure that soldering this mouthpipe down to the bell would be the best thing to do, because - even though this instrument is several decades old - it originally was sold with two interchangeable mouthpipe tubes, so it never was factory bent to lay against the bell.

The only instrument I personally own whereby the mouthpipe minimally contacts the bell is my huge Miraphone Model 98 which is attached to the bell via five removable thumb screws, and I'm pretty sure that the only reason for that is to be able to remove it and clean it easily.

bloke wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:59 am May I just have the 2nd slide kicker, and nothing else?

I found it interesting that all (almost all?) of the 5v Cerveny models seem to have second valve triggers, e g https://www.vfcerveny.cz/en/products/ro ... cb-696-5ir

Dents in tubas make less of a difference in tone and playability than dents in trumpets.

My ambronze Lawson bell is not fairy dust. Nor was it fairy dust on others' horns when they tried it. I don't think it's the metal but the tapers, and you wouldn't think a bell "has" tapers that matter, but on horns, it does and they do.

The Big Ben wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:50 pm Dents in tubas make less of a difference in tone and playability than dents in trumpets.

I know of at least one f tuba that has a magical dent in it.

Casca Grossa wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 7:37 pm

The Big Ben wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 1:50 pm Dents in tubas make less of a difference in tone and playability than dents in trumpets.

I know of at least one f tuba that has a magical dent in it.

I recall that they never offered to let someone take it out to do an A/B test. I guarantee that if I had taken the dent out, I could have put it back in.

Tweaking ergonomics is a favorite and reoccuring activity of mine.
Tuba manufacturers simply don´t seem to realise that a tubist´s right arm will approach the valves from below rather than horizontally and the tuba doesn´t point straight up.

On the Willson, this meant taking off the horrid thumb ring, adding a carved wooden hand rest and a carved thumb paddle to be screwed onto the 5th valve lever.
On the ADAMS, this involved wishing for a place to mount a handrest and having that adjustible rod holding the thumb ring elongated.

Another subject: slide pulling in absence of trigger mechanisms.
The musician needs a pivot point to rest their left wrist on when doing the slide pull, so the motion will be effective, smooth and under control.
It also helps if the slides most likely needing to be yanked are actually taken into account.

On most tubas, those are slides 1, 4 and/or 5. Many manufacturers have this figured out just fine.
ADAMS has not. at least not on their F, which is outstanding otherwise.

YorkNumber3.0 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 7:48 am Lots of extra braces will fix the intonation on your tuba. Only I know where to add them. All your tubaz iz mine.

All your basses are owned by us.