Home made mutes

Biggs · Post by **Biggs** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:03 pm

Large aluminum dog bowl. Available at Petco for c.$5.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 6:21 pm

Take a look at the Tennesse Tech tuba mute--basically some sheet aluminum, pop rivets and a couple pieces of wood. Access to a bandsaw is very helpful.

I believe that Nate Griffith also produces this type of mute for under $80.

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:43 am

As I posted before, I would love to glue some wine corks to an orange traffic cone. If the thing worked I would paint it gold so people would think I have money.

OldBandsman · Post by **OldBandsman** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 10:16 am

I've had a couple of mutes.

I made the first one... cardboard cone, disk of wood for the big end, paint whole thing with shellac so as to have a hard finish, corks were cut from strips of HO gauge model railroad track ballast from hobby shop. Size was a big guess based on what I could measure of the flare of the tuba. Played with pretty good tone but way sharp.

Second was bought second hand... aluminum with sheet metal screws (don't remember how many times I've cut my fingers picking it up). Looked much better after I painted it white and red. Fit my Yamaha 641 nicely, but ran sharper than I could correct for until I added to the corks for more space between bell and mute.

Now I've got a Miraphone 182 and that mute was too big for it. So I gave it away. I'd like to try to make another.

My guess is that you have to match mute to horn size, Yammie was 4/4.... Mira is 3/4. I also guess that the shape of bell taper also affects things. I wish there was a discussion somewhere about how you get the right dimensions for any horn. Anybody with experience in audio physics know about this?

John

OldBandsman · Post by **OldBandsman** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 3:23 pm

Awesome!!! What are the chances of a picture? Did you keep bluelprints for the interior structure?

John