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I just got home from a retirement party for the first trumpet player in our quintet. At the party I was talking to a guy he relies on for repairs and mods to his trumpets. I ask if he works on tubas -- answer, he works on all brass. So I ask him does he vent rotary valves, and he tells me you can't vent them unless the valves are hollow.

I beat a hasty retreat, and found someone else to talk to.

WTF?

jeopardymaster wrote:So I ask him does he vent rotary valves, and he tells me you can't vent them unless the valves are hollow.

You should've responded with, "Are those valves as hollow as your head?" That would've made for the event of the evening.

Made my evening. Thank you.

Some bloke must be a hot item among Memphis socialites.

In "defense" of the repairman in question, he probably only has experience venting piston valves. If a piston valve was 100% solid (and I have no idea why one would ever be; it would weigh a ton) you could not effectively vent it using the traditional procedure. Perhaps that fellow was not very familiar working on tuba rotors, it is not uncommon for repairmen who only service school horns to have never touched a rotary tuba; I have heard of this before. Of course, there are those things called french horns (or are they freedom horns now?)

jeopardymaster wrote: So I ask him does he vent rotary valves, and he tells me you can't vent them unless the valves are hollow.

You might have replied, "Well, if they were just hollow, they wouldn't be much good to a player without the valves IN them, would they!?", shake your head, and walk away...