Tuba modifications?

[adam0408]

I have a question/idea for all of you people that like fooling around with stuff.

Has anyone ever thought of putting an extra valve on a horn to kick the main tuning slide in and out? (mostly out) I think that would be a great idea.... if it could be made to work.

lets say there is some sort of mechanism to stop the slide from sliding back in too far and making you go too sharp. Also, the slide would have to be greased like mad.....

One could put the trigger/valve for this operation in reach of the left hand or something.

[Tom]

Lots of people have had tuing slide triggers put on their horns...

To get what you want you'd probably have to have a vertical pull main tuning slide and the device would have to be spring loaded, however it would would also have to have stop nuts and bumpers to keep it from slamming back in or from having to hold on to the trigger constantly to keep the slide out.

For a better idea of the kind of thing I'm talking about, check out the 2nd valve trigger on a Meinl Weston 45SLP F tuba.

[tubeast]

A long time ago my trumpet teacher introduced me to the tuba. His horn featured a fancy tuning slide. I forgot the brand, I think it was a Chech brand, maybe a Cerveny. I can be mistaken, though. The basic tuning of the horn was done the usual way. That tuning slide went into a 2-3 inch parallel, almost trombone-slidish set of hoses operated by a thumb trigger working in BOTH directions.
(The lever was built so you could push and pull it with your thumb, a coil spring held it in middle position). So you did that basic tuning on the conventional slide and used the Go Go Gadget Slide for intonation.
Another way would be to have linearly adjustable spring rests / whole mechanical setup so you could define the mid-position of the slide.
Have fun and well paying gigs

Hans

[TexTuba]

Doesn't Besson do this with some of their euphoniums? I don't know about a main tuning slide but I've seen ideas similar to this for the first valve slide. Is it practical to do it for the main slide?





Ralph

[Art Hovey]

Some years ago at a tuba conference I saw Ron Apperson with a bunch of other tubists doing "Them Baces" (sic). Ron was using a Cerveny piggy CC with a main-slide lever which he pumped with his left hand; it looked as if he had a different position for every note.

[tubafour]

A very talented tuba player at Tenn. Tech in Cookeville has a very interesting 188. It has this first valve tuning slide trigger, and he swears up and down that it came from the factory like that. Maybe a prototype that slipped through the cracks? I don't know, but that horn is a gem. The trigger works perfectly, and is, to me, much more economical than reaching around the bell to pull the slide. I find that method to constrict my breathing when reaching around that far, and none of us want that, right?

Sure wish I could give him $1k or so to take that goofy ole thing off his hands. I'd be doing him a favor.

[Tom]

A very talented tuba player at Tenn. Tech in Cookeville has a very interesting 188. It has this first valve tuning slide trigger, and he swears up and down that it came from the factory like that. Maybe a prototype that slipped through the cracks? I don't know, but that horn is a gem.

It is a factory option...I've played several 188s and 186s with the trigger that you describe.

[Rick Denney]

IHas anyone ever thought of putting an extra valve on a horn to kick the main tuning slide in and out? (mostly out) I think that would be a great idea.... if it could be made to work.

I've built a couple and seen many other slide triggers. Donald Stauffer reports correcting the flat third partial with a curtain rod attached to the main slide on his Conn Orchestra Grand Bass (36J) in perhaps the 40's, so there's nothing new about it.

I built one that would push the instrument flat when needed. It was a Cerveny. The rod fed down between the valve tubing and the rotary linkages, and operated a bell crank that pushed the horizontal slide out when I pushed. I ran the rod through a flange mounted above the valves, and put springs on both sides of the flange. Sometimes it was helpful and sometimes it was just in the way.

I also owned a Vespro tuba that had a very flat fifth partial. I put a mechanism on it to push the slide in when I pressed down. The rod extended between the bell stack and the finger paddles so that it approached the bell crank from the other side (that's what changed the direction of the slide). I put an old Miraphone thumb ring at the top of the rod. When I rested my hand on the first valve slide, my thumb would sit in the ring, allowing me to sharpen both the first valve and the main slide in one motion, or separately as needed. I didn't put a spring on that one, but I didn't design either one to have the travel necessary to push the slide out.

In both cases, I clamped the mechanism to the tubes instead of soldering to make sure the process was reversible without ruining the finish. As with all thing, the second one look very much better than the first one.

Rick "who prefers tubas that don't need such manipulations" Denney

[Bob Mosso]

A friend of mine makes them for euphs and sells them as kits.

JCRaymo,

Can you share more details on the euph kits? Who is your friend? Are they available for a YEP-321? ....

Bob "who thinks this is a good solution for my sharp 6th partial" Mosso