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Ok, stupid question. Attending the last tuba/euph recital in the local Octubafest, I got to listen to a guy wail on what appeared to be a YFB 621.

So, tuba customizers, is it "impossible" to yank the piston set out of, for example, the above F tuba, and insert a set of rotors? Not ever having seen the wraps side by side I'm clueless as to the impossibility or the whyfors of such impossibility.

Separate question: would most people choose to play the Effie suite on a large CC tuba? I'd think that was a no-brainer for a bass tuba, after hearing it at the same concert. Eb in particular....lowest note I remember hearing was a G below the staff, and then that ending note of C below the staff could cause a rotary F player to be nervous all the way through to the end, but an Eb player could just rest easy.

MA

MaryAnn wrote:Ok, stupid question. Attending the last tuba/euph recital in the local Octubafest, I got to listen to a guy wail on what appeared to be a YFB 621.

So, tuba customizers, is it "impossible" to yank the piston set out of, for example, the above F tuba, and insert a set of rotors? Not ever having seen the wraps side by side I'm clueless as to the impossibility or the whyfors of such impossibility.

Anything's possible. Is it cost effective? I don't know. Have you tried a Miraphone Firebird? It's a little bigger than the 621 and your 182, but it is still a small F tuba.

MaryAnn wrote:Separate question: would most people choose to play the Effie suite on a large CC tuba?

Everytime I have seen it performed an F tuba was used.

bloke wrote:

MaryAnn wrote:...that ending note of C below the staff could cause a rotary F player to be nervous all the way through to the end...

MA

To which player are you specifically referring?

None in particular. I haven't played any tuba to speak of for a couple of years, but I remain an interested bystander. My piston-to-rotary conversion question is just the engineer brain talking to itself.

So, no, I'm not still looking for the perfect tuba for myself....the 184 CC I have is really the best fit I'm going to find for a contrabass (mini one, but still that range) and I don't have any reason to play bass tuba anywhere anyway. I still drool over the occasional offering though. I'm playing horn in a couple quintets and a concert band, and spending my practice time on oboe. To quote a friend of mine, the oboe itself is fine but it is the ding-blasted reeds that are the problem.

MA

MaryAnn wrote:To quote a friend of mine, the oboe itself is fine but it is the ding-blasted reeds that are the problem

... and to quote a friend of mine, the oboe itself is fine, the reeds are fine, in fact, everythings fine until you actually have to use one...

MaryAnn wrote:Separate question: would most people choose to play the Effie suite on a large CC tuba? I'd think that was a no-brainer for a bass tuba, after hearing it at the same concert. Eb in particular....lowest note I remember hearing was a G below the staff, and then that ending note of C below the staff could cause a rotary F player to be nervous all the way through to the end, but an Eb player could just rest easy.

MA

Hey, MaryAnn! Interesting question. Alec Wilder was a good friend of Harvey Phillips, and I've heard that he played 99.9% of everything on CC, so I'd imagine his premiere would have been on CC tuba.
As far as the stuffy low C on bass tuba, I really can't relate. I think there are definitely at least two parts to that equation: the horn and the player.

jonesbrass wrote:Alec Wilder was a good friend of Harvey Phillips, and I've heard that he played 99.9% of everything on CC, so I'd imagine his premiere would have been on CC tuba.

FWIW, most of the CC's that HP played are probably comparable to many of today's 6/4 F's (notwithstanding the low C).

Parts of Effie are easier on F than CC; some, just the opposite, from a pure fingers perspective. Well, to some of us, at least, that's the case. Ideally, there should be no problem. But, given the realities of partials (and full set dentures ) parts of it just hang better on one or the other.

Concerning the range of the piece, I once heard the name effie was indicative of the range.Low f to high e. f e. f e. fe. effie.....good story anyway....

windshieldbug wrote:

MaryAnn wrote:To quote a friend of mine, the oboe itself is fine but it is the ding-blasted reeds that are the problem

... and to quote a friend of mine, the oboe itself is fine, the reeds are fine, in fact, everythings fine until you actually have to use one...

Actually, I'd think that oboe and tuba would be a good combination, because don't oboists eventually go insane from all of that air pressure building up inside their heads anyway? Playing tuba after a long practice session on oboe would alleviate that, wouldn't it?

The valves on the 621 are pretty nice so I wouldn't change them

I am/have played the effie suite on both F and CC I don't think one is harder than the other just different