New tuba(s)!

[Bob Kolada]

I picked up the Conn Giant Eb I bought from Mike Ferries at the Greyhound depot. Mike did a great job packing it!

Unfortunately, I don't have a camera yet and my King is at school. So I was only able to get one picture taken (by my brother) and only of me with the Conn.
It plays and sounds really nice. I want to at least get the receiver angled differently as I'm almost holding the tuba like a reverse image euphonium. I'm also going to get the 1st slide flipped and a ring put on #2. Un/fortunately, so far it seems to have the exact same intonation characteristics as my little King- everything is good except for a flat 5th partial and a flatter 2nd partial. My King is fine now, so I'm not worried about it too much. Worst case scenario I put a rod on the main slide which should be pretty easy. My King has a better low range, BUT... I also remember feeling most of these characteristics when I got it and now I love that horn.

In this picture I had just come out of the cold weather and climbed a bunch of stairs. My face isn't normally that red. I was also attempting to make a funny face...

[bearphonium]

I think that his Uncle Sam frowns on beards. Nice new horn!

[kegmcnabb]

Congrats on the new horn!

[Bob Kolada]

I finally put it to a tuner today (for a few minutes when I should have been running to catch the bus! ), and it seems that a tuning rod will not be necessary. With the slide all the way in, the 2nd and 3rd partials are spot on and the 4th is only a tiny bit sharp.

Yes, the false tones are huge.

[Bob Kolada]

The B-A range is getting much better! I started off playing it with my Bach 18, as I did not like the sound with my no-name 30mm or my (unfortunately shaved down) Martin 32. After cranking out a bunch of really, really bad B's I tried those 2. Much better, though I still didn't like the overall tone. But when I went back to my 18 everything stayed there. I actually have an almost usable B-Bb now! In a week I should be pretty decent. And if the tuning-slide-mod adds even half of what I'm told it will, I will be be set for life after that.

[bigbob]

May I please ask.. What are false tones???..............bigbob

[MartyNeilan]

May I please ask.. What are false tones???..............bigbob

You will find that searching the archives is your best friend on TubeNet; click the Advanced Search link in the main bar.
Our friend Bob here (formerly known as Bob1062) is the undisputed king and champion of false tones!

[Bob Kolada]

The King next to the Amati euph my parents got me in junior high school (my eCost Polaroid digital camera came in!)-

[imperialbari]

Congratulations!

And oldies prefer visible photos. Thumbnails are fine. For thumbs, that is.

[Bob Kolada]

Klaus, how about you delete that one with my ugly face and use the one I put earlier?

[imperialbari]

I only knew how to change from thumbnail to large (because of the structure of the link). If ugliness was a degrading factor in the tuba world, many of us would be in troubles. And no! I wont provide samples,

Klaus

[Rick Denney]

May I please ask.. What are false tones???..............bigbob

A better term is "alternative resonance".

With your Bb tuba, play a low Bb. Then, relax your embouchure as if you want to glissando to lower notes, but don't use the valves. If your chops will work that far, the resonance will eventually jump down to something in the vicinity of an Eb, five ledger lines under the bass clef. To play that note on the primary resonance, you'd need valves--1-2-4 or 4-5 depending on your tuba. But you can play that Eb on the open bugle, and even though it feels strange, many tubas produce completely usable tone quality on those notes. You can then go down from Eb by adding valves in the normal sequence.

Those alternative resonances are much easier for we hobbyists. And on three-valve instruments, they are the only way we can play the notes between the pedal Bb and the 1-2-3 low E.

Rick "whose Holton produces excellent false tones" Denney

[Bob Kolada]

Mine is the only tuba I've ever played that starts a half tone above above the usual- for me that is an A and a slightly sharp A at that. All the better is the 2nd slide is to short to pull for 24 (E slots fine) and the 4th slide is on the bottom. It's just kinda hard to get used to as my King Eb and Amati euph start at the normal spots...

How I get people to play false tones is to play open (2nd partial), 1, 12, 13/4, open. That seems to help get the pitch association.

[Donn]

Mine is the only tuba I've ever played that starts a half tone above above the usual- for me that is an A and a slightly sharp A at that.

There is a variant false tones practice where, if I understand it right, the valves are as for the 3rd partial. So on an Eb tuba, low Bb would be either 1-3 or open. I've tried it, and for me it seems like it's a question of whether there is any benefit to lipping the notes up. It sounds a little different, maybe could sound better with enough practice, but to about the same effect one could play 2nd partial C with valves 1-3, etc. So I'm not advocating this practice, just saying that some do, who are better tuba players than I.

[Bob Kolada]

I still don't have a bag for the Conn, so I haven't taken a pic of all my conical things yet as I am loathe to bring it back and forth on the bus with any regularity. After a few weeks of band rehearsals with very good intonation and an ever improving low range, I had my jury today and the intonation was absolutely atrocious (primarily the widest octave between the 2nd and 4th partial I could imagine- I had to play the higher one 23 and could not lip up the lower one enough). Sigh... So, it's back at home and I'll use the King for the graduations I'm playing (even though it also has a bit of that spread-octave crap... ). But finally here's a picture of the 3 least desired tubas in the world - my pre-1915 King Eb, my 1916 Conn Giant Eb, and my 1995-ish Amati 331 euphonium.