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The short answer is yes.

I had a King 2341 (2 piece) that I would need to spin at least twice during a 2 hour rehearsal to stop the gurgling. My current King 2341 (1 piece) never needs to be spun as long as I empty the top slides regularly. The newer versions have a spit valve on one of the bottom curves that helps even more.

My Besson 983 has 4 spit valves, and as long as I empty them regularly I never have a problem. The only exception to this is the second valve slide, which I empty after playing and seems to accumulate very little moisture.

None of the rotary valve tubas that I have played or owned ever had any problems accumulating "moisture." I was able to get everything out via the one "water key" on the main tuning slide. I think this is a matter of the design of the tubing on most rotary valve horns.

Marzans hold water and lots of it. The 2nd tuning slide for the 3rd and 4th rotor have no water key so you have to pull them. There is one crook in the tubing that requires 2 turns to empty. I guess bigger horns have more space for the water to condense because I dont remember anywhere near this much comming out of my old 3/4 E.M. Winston

bloke wrote:Of course, many rotary tubas automatically direct the nearly all of the water to the main slide.

Just my luck NOT to be among the MANY! My Mirafone 186 holds a ton of water in the 4th valve slide, requiring a double spin to remove it at least once a rehearsal. Because it takes a double spin, do you think a spit-key would solve the problem, in your professional opinion, Bloke?

Thanks, Bloke, for the response! What might be a ballpark price for installing a spit key in either of those locations? And, how to determine which one is harboring the water? Trial and error?