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I got asked today to bring a "paper mute" for the tuba...

I have no clue as to what that might be...

Can the hive mind that is this forum help?

Cheers


//Mattis

No clue. My first thought would be that perhaps they want something to muffle/dampen the sound of the tuba without changing the tone too much?

Definitely a weird request.

Wonder if they are thinking of a Humes and Berg "Stone Lined" with its somewhat paper mache look to it.

Like Bloke said, possibly lost in translation at some point. Maybe someone said "straight mute," but someone down the line misheard it as "paper mute."

A couple years ago, I was called to do Phantom on bass, and I distinctly remember hearing "no C extension required for this show." I thought to myself that's a good thing, because I don't have one. I'm still not sure if I misheard the (trumpet player) contractor or if he misheard the requirement when he relayed the message to me, but it was clear that a C extension was required for this show when I received the advance book. Thankfully, Hipshot had just released a drop tuner for double bass not six months prior. $125 was a way better option than either spending $1500+ on a conversion, or having to give up the gig about two weeks out.

The request came from one of the best arrangers in the business, so translation issues are unlikely...
I’ll just have to get back to him.
Thanks

//Mattis

BopEuph wrote:A couple years ago, I was called to do Phantom on bass, and I distinctly remember hearing "no C extension required for this show." I thought to myself that's a good thing, because I don't have one. I'm still not sure if I misheard the (trumpet player) contractor or if he misheard the requirement when he relayed the message to me, but it was clear that a C extension was required for this show when I received the advance book. Thankfully, Hipshot had just released a drop tuner for double bass not six months prior. $125 was a way better option than either spending $1500+ on a conversion, or having to give up the gig about two weeks out.

"Low C extension" sounds a lot like "no C extension"

That Hipshot thing is very cool, never heard of it. I'm not a bass player but my wife is.

BopEuph wrote:Like Bloke said, possibly lost in translation at some point. Maybe someone said "straight mute," but someone down the line misheard it as "paper mute."

I was going to say that maybe what was meant was "fiber" mute, which could be an easy translation error to paper. I know Wick refers to their Humes & Berg Stonelined style of mute as a fiber mute.

....so.... straight mute?

Doug Elliott wrote:

BopEuph wrote: That Hipshot thing is very cool, never heard of it. I'm not a bass player but my wife is.

I liked it so much, I got a second one for my A string. Going from C to A was too much shifting on a bass, so I can now tune the low two strings to C-G. The only downside is the higher G string goes flat in this configuration, so I need to avoid open strings--but I'm getting surprisingly very comfortable with this tuning option.

I'm more than smart @$$ enough to go in the garage and make a mute out of craft paper and sealing tape. Hmmmm. Probably going to need a tether. And if someone asks, I explain that this is a prototype.

I seem to recall a notable tubist just balancing a leather music folio in his bell rather than transit a gigantor tuba mute to offsite gigs.

bloke wrote:

Someone almost wrote:It is only a paper mute
Sitting in a cardboard C.

bloke "who knows far too many lyrics to far to many songs...which - as some might guess - annoys Mrs. bloke"

That's a good one, bloke