Lets Talk St.Petersburg

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Art Hovey
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by Art Hovey »

Nickel plating does turn gray if you neglect to wipe it off with a damp cloth daily, and it does flake as Bloke mentioned if you dent it. But it is thicker and much harder than silver plating. I found that fine steel wool cleans it up pretty well. A nickel-plated horn can look good for a very long time if you take good care of it, but can be pretty awful if you don't.
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by balchb »

GregTuba79 wrote:
balchb wrote:Bucket of bolts.... I hate the one I bought for my school band program. Pitch is quirky (very flat 4th valve, open bugle pitch is not as good as other inexpensive models), my main ferrule came apart so the bell and bow were literally separated, and my thumb ring plate came off. Our reputable repair shop said the ferrule was only soldered on one side and the overall construction was quite poor (they were very surprised at how well my Wessex was built for the price).
Quirky because a brand new tuba student played it and that's what you heard? Or you playing it as a seasoned professional tubist? Mine plays perfectly in tune.
I played the horn for several gigs in quintets and a chamber brass ensemble. I found it tough to "find" the ensemble with it. Having to switch to 1/3 C and yanking the first slide was upsetting... Otherwise the 4th slide was quite a bit flat. Ease of blowing and having a powerful low range were both positive. Fine-tuning an Ewald quintet was frustrating. I think those instruments are too soft for school use compared to say a Yamaha 4-valve upright that you could practically drive a school bus over.
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Dan Schultz
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by Dan Schultz »

GregTuba79 wrote:....do you think 000 steel wool would work against the haziness of the nickel plating?
I'm obviously not Art but I do have some experience with nickel plating. Treat it just like you would a car bumper from the 50's. Use the white buffing compound (or old-fashioned chrome polish) and don't be shy with the force or wheel speed. Nickel is VERY hard and thick so it's not likely you will buff through it.

I just had a Holton 'Farkas' F horn in the shop that is nickel with clear lacquer. About the only way you can tell if there is clear coat over nickel is that it looks REALLY good and touching the surface lightly with probes won't register on a continuity tester.
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bort
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by bort »

I've never liked the look of the nickel finish either, it's like almost silver but not quite. I call it "Soviet silver". But, that's just me and my personal preferences though, they can be pretty decent tubas.

It's my understanding that the nickel finish serves a purpose though -- to provide a finish that lasts a little better near the salty air from the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea, where silver and lacquered brass don't do so well (and forget about raw brass).

Sidebar: I remember about 15-20 years ago, a German website where they were importing them from Russia to Germany, replacing the valve linkages, then reselling them.
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Donn
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by Donn »

TubaTinker wrote:I just had a Holton 'Farkas' F horn in the shop that is nickel with clear lacquer. About the only way you can tell if there is clear coat over nickel is that it looks REALLY good and touching the surface lightly with probes won't register on a continuity tester.
That's an interesting idea. It occurs to me that the usual problems with lacquer may be due to brass oxidation, from acids from the environment that get through the lacquer because it isn't absolutely impermeable. A nickel layer underneath wouldn't be completely inert either, but much more stable than brass, so even where the lacquer is chipped or something there'd just be a dark spot, not a festering mass of corrosion that undermines the lacquer. Meanwhile the lacquer would keep the nickel bright, and hopefully keep you away from the nickel and prevent nickel allergy, which can happen to anyone and isn't any fun at all.
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by bort »

Unless it's new and cheap:

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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by balchb »

bloke wrote:All I know (well...I know just a little bit more, but...) is that band directors (around here) seem to like those tubas, and thus I'll probably continue to round them up...but no, I'm not-at-all jealous of the exclusive US dealer.

tuning a brass quintet: The most in-tune quintets with which I've played never "tuned". Orchestra tuning (whether top-tier or amateur) is ceremonial. There's no way to "tune" a symphony orchestra prior to it playing music. Tuning is the responsibility of each individual player in any ensemble, and is always subject to "weakest link" syndromes.
My quintets certainly don't tune either... my comment was about finding my other colleagues in the heat of it and how I never felt like I was in as well as I do with different instruments. Maybe this particular horn was a lemon (at least according to the repairman it is...).
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Re: Lets Talk St.Petersburg

Post by Radar »

I just bought a St. Pete from Tuba Exchange they advertised it as being a store Demo Unit so I got a pretty good discount on it. It arrived in good condition, and I like the sound (I have a band mate who plays one and gets a great sound out of it, which convinced me to order this one). I'm going to go back to playing a BBb horn, after years of playing a Miraphone 186 CC. I like the miraphone very much but for the playing I do (mostly concert band and Marching Band (which also plays some sit down concerts as well), I like the BBb tuba and I also play Sousaphone to march, and keeping the different fingerings separate Between the Bb and C horns has always been a challenge for me. I often forget which horn I'm playing and switch fingerings. I won't compare the sound between the St. Pete and the Miraphone because they are two different Tuba animals. If I were going to play in a small chamber group the Miraphone 186 would be a better choice but for holding down the Bottom on a large concert band I would pick the St. Petersburg. There was a minor annoyance issue with the St. Pete that I've solved there was some grit in the tuning slides that I had to clean out to get the slides to move freely. I do notice some intonation challenges that I need to be aware of and work through. Over all I'm happy with the horn, I have had it less than a week, so I can't speak to how it will hold up in the long haul, but I'm not very hard on horns so I don't expect to have any issues. The valves are stiffer than the rotary valves on my 186, but they do move freely and return fast. This probably wouldn't be a horn for a smaller student it is a physically large and a fairly heavy instrument, as far as being thin and easily dented I didn't notice that being an issue with this one the metal seems fairly sturdy, actually sturdier than the bell of my older 186. If I have any new issues with the horn as I get used to it, I'll let you know, but I am pretty happy with it so far, and It was what I expected for a Tuba that sell new for under $4,000.
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