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That may be one of the BEST ideas I have ever heard with regards to tuba design. Shall I send my horns to you?

Seriously, what is stopping that from happening?

Well if you figure it out, it may be one of those "re-inventing" moments in our world.

Good luck!!!

Fred Marzan made "his" (the tubas were made by Boehm & Meinl) tubas with a tuning slide that had easy access with the left hand, in approximatly the location suggested in an earlier post. Marzan's tubas had this tuning slide directly after an "angled" ergonomically designed valve (rotary or piston) cluster. They were popular for a time in the early 70s+, but I think their bizzare appearance might have had to do with their eventual drop in popularity.

In my personal experience, there is ONE tuning slide location on a "tuning slide in the leadpipe tuba" where the horn seems to play BETTER than anywhere else you may adjust it to. Even the Hirsbrunners with a tuning slide in the leadpipe seem to exhibit this "quirk". The old Yorks had a relatively short, tapered leadpipe. A tuning slide (even if "dual bored") neccessitates a cylindrical section(s) in what has been "proven" works best when overall conical.

The best advice has already been given. Try it; if you like it, screw what anyone else says.

It doesn't really matter whether the tuning slide is before or after the valves since slides that come before the valves are universally cylindrical just like valve tubing. The real question is whether a tapered or cylindrical tuning slide is better.

On first guess it would seem that a tapered/stepped bore tuning slide, necessarily placed after the valves, would be preferable on a conical instrument to maximize the "conicity". On the other hand, if the taper for the foot and a half after the valves is extremely important to the playing qualities of the instrument, then a cylindrical tuning slide might be better since it is little different acoustically than a valve being pushed down. My tubas with tuning before the valves taper surprisingly quickly after the valves, much faster than I've seen on an instrument with tuning after the valves.

All I know for sure is that my 3 favorite tubas have tuning slides before the valves.

From what I understand, Fred Marzan was tall, and this left hand main TS setup worked well for him. I played on one of these for a while, and, with a stand to hold most of the weight, and with a straight back (tuba upright, not slanted), this setup was preferrable to trying to find the right TS to pull. (BTW, I never really needed to pull this slide that much, as the intonation was very reliable, for me). Draining the water is simpler also because there is only 1 slide to pull. I am just shy of 6', and found this setup comfortable.

I think the Marzan design never caught on because it is only comfortable to the people who fit it, like shoes. There may have also been economic or marketing reasons why Marzan tubas were not more popular.

Why Conn doesn't do this from the factory I'll never know: On my @1935 Conn Cavalier (a 14k before it was called a 14k) the top loop of the first valve tubing lay exactly at the left hand when marching, so I had it turned into a slide. It is perfect for those combinations that need it, even "on the go," so to speak!

I love Fred Marzan's Boehm & Meinl horn (CC slant-rotor), which I was fortunate enough to pick up when everyone was bailing out. I'm 6'3', so I don't know if size has anything to do with it, but the convenience of using the main slide for tuning more than offset the quirks of the short leadpipe. It was very easy for me to use, even in my lap, and once mastered I couldn't imagine going back to valve-slide adjustment. Plus the horn allowed me to match a very big playing trombone section.

The only thing I'd change is substituting mechanical linkage for the string linkage. It's quiet, but man, are you pushing a lot of weight around.

Could well be true about Marzans "fitting" bigger players. Though I never owned one personally; the fellow I knew that had one was 6'3", and still continues to LOVE his. Some of the Marzans were really fine horns, but were universally uncomfortable to some people, particularly if the're smaller than average.

I'm 6'8'', and the best Marzan tuba I ever played was a "5/4" Model that had a valve cluster "span" that was even too wide for ME to play comfortably. I always felt like I was doing "finger stretching exercises" like one may encounter in piano literature when playing that particular tuba. With some exceptions, I have moved up the leadpipes on all my tubas to accomodate for my size. It's always better make to make the horn meet YOU rather than vice versa.

If anyone out there is "shopping around" for horns, I would advise them to be patient and try LOTS of the different models, keys and sizes before buying. It seems that today there is a big enouigh variety of makes and models to find a "perfect fit" - sonically AND "ergonomically". There is no point in "fighting" an instrument to get a desired sound. Somewhere out there is one that produces the sound YOU want when YOU play it.