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I have heard through several sources that while he was still alive, Mr. Butterfield (Don), advocated having the leadpipe on one's tuba moved away from the point where one could see his reflection in the bell of the horn because he maintained that this could ruin the eyesight in the left eye. I have a Meinl-Weston 2145 and my bell is close to my left eye and my eyesight in that eye is 20/400. My right eye is 20/20. I contacted a local repairman and asked if he could move the leadpipe away from my horn for this reason. he said that would create problems for the horn that I would not want to deal with, and to just wrap something like a solid-color towel around the horn so I could not see my reflection. These are my questions:
1) Is Mr. Butterfield correct? My experience seems to say so.
2) Is it the reflection in the bell or just the fact that there is an object that close period whether there is a reflection or not?
3) because of #2, will wrapping something around the bell help?
4) What would be the best solution, because my eye doctor wants to do what he called "some refractive work" on my left eye, which I'm cool with, but I don't want to do it if the tuba is going to keep ruining my eyesight. I want to solve the problem before I get the eye work done, and I'm spending massive amounts of time on front of the horn practicing because I have an audition coming up.
Any help, especially from someone who has had and solved this, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much in advance,
Gray Bach

Gray, I had lots of doubts about Don's method, too, until I got glasses with a much stronger left than right. That was after 5 years of undergrad, all but the first semester on a rotor valved tuba.

I'm not at all skeptical of the idea, but I don't think moving the leadpipe as he advocated is the best answer. It does make a lot of difference, but it adds so much possibility of damage, and makes holding the tuba more unwieldy than ever.

I don't know what the answer is. An eye patch maybe. A piece of cloth will still result in a short focus from that eye.

Good question!

I'm not entirely sure if this problem would truly be a reflection related thing....It'd have to be pretty bright to cause that kinda damage, especially since most of the time, the reflection we receive is not from direct looking. Usually the eye is not much of an angle from the horn.


Something worth noting as well is that many people have dominant eyes and the other (less dominant) can lose strength (especially when you have glasses already).

Now it may be that this causes an eye issue.....but I don't think it'd be something worth worrying about. It most likely wont "ruin" your eyesight in the left eye to the point where you can't see......so, unless you wanna wear an eye patch........

In your normal playing position can you see the conductor and sheet music when you close your right eye? (Or left eye if you are using a top-action tuba)
Don's problem stemmed from the fact that his left eye field of view was blocked by the tuba for many hours every day.
If you can see with both eyes while you are playing then the tuba is not the problem. If you can't (and if you are playing for many hours every day) then you need to change something.
The way Don had his leadpipes modified certainly does make them more vulnerable to damage, but he was an adult and knew how to take care of his instruments. He also had access to a good technician.
I like to tilt my tuba to the left more than Don did, so I have not had to deal with that issue.

To paraphrase Dale, have you asked your eye doctor?

Mark wrote:To paraphrase Dale, have you asked your eye doctor?

Yep. He said it sounds like a good idea. My left eye isn't nearly as bad as the OP, if it was I'd give serious consideration to the adjustment. Art's suggestion makes more sense, I've done that to an extent by trying to sit a little sideways, so I can see a music stand with both eyes.

I remember a conversation with Don when he spoke of having the leadpipe moved away from his King BBb. As I remember, it was more of a problem with the bell being so close to his eye. He never mentioned anything about the reflection in the bell being the issue.