Adding valves to a tuba...

[Peach]

I have a couple of tubas with 3 valves that play brilliantly well but obviously the lack of valves reduces the low-range possibilities. Particularly impressive with these tubas is the response and ease of blowing.
One of the tubas is a 6/4 Bb and I have a new 4+1 set on order which will go on (5th after main slide setup). If the response doesn't get screwed-up this tuba will be very, very good.

For anyone with before & after experience, what differences did you find in response when you added valves to tubas?

Cheers,
MP

[Sam Gnagey]

For a long time I thought that the added 5th valve screwed response up. The CC horn that I'm using as my primary I built originally as a 4-valve. It played so well that I was reluctant to add the 5th. After using it for about a year I decided that I'd give it a try and add the 5th thinking that I would do so in a way that made removing the fifth easy. It actually seemed to improve the low register response. I've found the same with some of the instruments I've built since then when I'd play them as a 4-valve first. That's unusual. I typically get the valve cluster all put together as a complete 5-valve unit before installing it in the bugle. The caveat is that my 5th valves are the same bore size as the rest of the cluster and right after the 4th. Using other perameters might not give the same good results. Good luck with your projects. Did you sell that lovely horn that I made for you yet?
Best of everything, Peach,
Sam

[Peach]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the info! Interesting results.
No, I haven't sold your wonderful tuba and am not even sure I will; I certainly don't want to.
However times are hard in the Peach household and I don't fancy selling internal organs just yet! There's also slight pressure from the better-half. We'll see. Reminds me of that Norrington song: "The Man Song".

I played the York/King in Saint-Saens No3 yesterday and it was a blast...
Cheers,
Mal