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Hi I was wondering about those valves on tubas that are used to kick a slide up or down so you don't have to use your hand and grab it. On my tuba their are some slides that are hard for me to reach and I was wondering can these slide valves be used in a situation like this? And has anyone ever tried to rig all their slides with these valves/levers? thank you

goodgigs wrote:Good subject !
Yes they are generally called "Kickers" and the MW Kronos comes with two of them.
I've seen many of these set ups but have never learned to bothered to set on up
on any of my horns. It seems to me that if they were linked to the spatulas (buttons) with
bicycle break cable, they would last forever and be fast as lightning.

Ok yeah I was thinking of putting 4 on my tuba so I don't have to stretch for all the slides that I tune with.

I think a main tuning slide kicker will become standard on professional tubas in the future.

KiltieTuba wrote:I know exactly what you are looking for, unfortunately it looks like I deleted the picture of such an instrument... I did have a few pictures of a 4 valve rotary tuba with 4 extra spatulas in the back to adjust the four valve slides

HAHA! I found it!

That is exactly what I want on my tuba. But mines would be on a piston tuba. Did you do this yourself and if you don't mind me asking how much was it?

TYA wrote:

KiltieTuba wrote:I know exactly what you are looking for, unfortunately it looks like I deleted the picture of such an instrument... I did have a few pictures of a 4 valve rotary tuba with 4 extra spatulas in the back to adjust the four valve slides

HAHA! I found it!

That is exactly what I want on my tuba. But mines would be on a piston tuba. Did you do this yourself and if you don't mind me asking how much was it?

You know, there's already an instrument that has 8+ keys... it's called a saxophone.

My Marzan has a top facing main slide, which is great. Use that slide or nothing at all. Outside of that, if your tuba is SO bad that EVERY slide needs a kicker, it's time to get yourself a different tuba.

People always watch professionals (professional at anything) and say "wow, he makes it look so easy." Most of that is the product of extraordinary talent and practice. But some of that is also setting themselves up with the best tools available so they can put their energy to the best use. How many pro tuba players do you see working their asses off pulling every slide or using kickers on every slide?

If you have a front action piston Tuba, you should consider pull ring extensions soldered to the tuning slides you cant reach. This is great and reasonably cheap.

What kind of horn are you considering modifying?

Isn't a 2nd valve slide kicker pretty much standard on a Rudy?

bort wrote: ... How many pro tuba players do you see working their asses off pulling every slide or using kickers on every slide?

Be careful with this question. I can think of 5 off the top of my head, and one of them lives up the way from you and has a few tubas with his logo stamped on the bell.

Though, I think that ol' bloke is onto something with that tuning valve jigger.

Well, I've been known to be wrong from time to time.

My point (perhaps overstated) is that at some point, I'm only willing to adjust so much before deciding it's too much work. A lot of pros I've met/seen/watched will go a certain distance with that, and it's a very personal thing. But sometimes there are simply better options. I dunno, for me, I just don't want to work that much.

alternate fingerings also can go a long way, of course....

I don't touch my tuning slide while I'm playing, unless my tuning note is off (oddly enough, all of the ensembles I play in tune to the tuba section, which, well, is just me). But I do find on my 5450, and even the old 2155 and 2145s that I used to play on would have tendencies with different valves. For instance, second line Bb can be perfect, but 3rd line D is considerably flat. So, I always get my first valve slide and sand, polish, rinse and repeat until I can put slide-o-mix or superslick on it. Anyone else do something similar, or am I just that nuts?

I have a main slide kicker on my Willson, and I'm getting one on the HB-2 that's on its way. After the Hirsbrunner gets here, I'll have one put on the Bruckner. On the F tubas, I had one on my last 822, but haven't had the time to get on one the current 822. The 621 I don't have to fool with pitch too much, but I can reach the 5th slide and the 1st slide for fine tuning the needed pitches.

If you go to my FB page, under the profile pictures, you can see the tuning jigger on the Willson; I think all tubas should come with this. It's not costly, when done at the factory, and it makes tuning every pitch a breeze.