Bob1062 wrote:I remember hearing about a 184 that had had the bell replaced with one from a Kaiser baritone so that the owner could back-pack it. Apparently, this affected the pitch so much the leadpipe was redone so that it looped or curled or some such thing.
Does anyone have pictures of this? How much was the pitch changed (a step and a half? )?
Thanks!
A step and a half? I think I see what you're getting at.
The Miraphone Starlight E flat tuba reminds me of a Mira 184 only in Eb with even better pitch.
Hmm. Reminds me of my tuba. With the retrofit St Pete upright bell instead of the stock recording bell, it is so short (yeah, I know -- all together now -- how short is it?) that it looks like it could be a cousin to a piggy, and tubatinker had to lengthen the main tuning slide @ 2 1/2 inches (On both legs! Imagine that!) to get it back down to concert pitch with only the usual 3/4 to 1 inch pull.
The main tuning slide does come out a little past the outside edge of the bugle when pushed all the way in, but this does not affect playing or right hand position, or seem to be a spot that I have to worry about on my soft case. Fortunately, for some reason, second space C is now dead on 1st valve. Unfortunately, the reproportioning of the cylindrical vs conical tubing seems to have compressed the octaves slightly, so that if I'm not careful, below BBb can get way sharp, and above mid line D can start going flat. But in community band 95% of the literature is in between, and midline D 12 is right on, so it's not an issue. I will have to get the dogleg replaced eventually, it's just too beat up, even though TE did probably as good as anybody "resurrecting" it.
The reason for this long ramble: I wonder if shortening the bell on the 184 had similar intonation results.
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