TubeNet

OK,

The beauty of the compensating system is that the tubing is added when the 4th valve is pressed. Therefore the non-compensating instruments need to use a lower-half step fingering system for anything lower than E2. Here are the fingerings:

Eb2 - 124
D2 - 234
Db2 - 134
C2 - 1234
B2 - 1234 (pull 4)

The B2 (low B, right above the pedal register) really does not exist on a non-compensating horn. There is simply not enough tubing. A while back, Yamaha invented sort of a 5th valve that could be put on the 4th valve slide to add a little tubing - but those are dinosaurs. Best bet - get used to dropping the heck out of your jaw, and make sure that your mouthpiece is not too tiny to accomodate what you are trying to do.

- Pat Stuckemeyer

I've been playing a King 2280 Legend- a non-comp 4-valve with the 4th valve tuned to take the note played with only the fourth valve depressed down to something significantly flatter than "F." That's the tuning I was taught to use years ago. I use standard fingerings when below the staff, thus F# below staff = 1-2-4. I do end up lipping things a bit, but overall things stay pretty well in tune. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fourth valve bore on my 2280 being significantly bigger than valves 1-3?