TubeNet

I have an old (new to me) BBb 186 that I'm using to get back in shape after many years of barely playing. I have not yet found a teacher, though that's on my list.

After about 10 minutes of playing, it works nicely. Before that, though, open notes can sound unsteady, and notes with valves pressed can sound a little fuzzy. The unsteady open notes sound almost like water needs to be drained, but the sound character changes at a much slower rate, like fades rather than gurgles.

I understand that rotary valves need to be wet to work right, but 10 minutes every day to get them worked in seems not right. As I said, it all seems good, eventually (sometimes very low notes are slow to speak, but that might just be me), so the valves do seem to mostly work right. They're very smooth and quiet, and they're aligned properly (if the marks are right).

Should I be using heavier oil than Hetman rotor oil 12 for a 1965 tuba? Is there something else to easily check without pulling rotors (even then, I'm not sure what I'd look for)?

Thanks, bloke. Each of the valves gives a good thump when I pull its slide and the open it, so I hadn't even suspected a problem until I noticed this weirdness. Maybe it's something else. Seems like there's not to much that can go wrong with a brass tube besides the valves, though.

Sounds like it might be you that’s warming up after 10 minutes.
Just a thought.

Kirley wrote:Sounds like it might be you that’s warming up after 10 minutes.
Just a thought.

Yeah, that's certainly possible, and I'll be pleased if that's it.

bloke wrote:my wild guess:

Something's in the instrument.

I wondered that, too. This was a high school horn for 30 years....

If there's something there, it's resisted a flush with a garden hose.

bloke wrote:Most of the foreign objects I remove from instruments require much more than water (regardless of velocity or pressure) to dislodge them.

Interesting. Thank you!

definitely could be something in the horn, try reaching into the bell or flipping it around a few times. it might not work but it could also be worth running the hose through the leadpipe, Ive found anything from old rags to old rats inside tubas before.

bloke wrote: ...Something's in the instrument.

This thread reminded me of the shoe brush story with Arnold Jacobs and Robert Tucci:
https://youtu.be/LdNEntsNfCo?t=24m45s

Grasp the stop arm and rotate it to somewhere near the center of its travel. Then move it North, South, East and West (12, 6, 3 and 9 o'clock). Is there play (a click)? If so the bearings need to be swaged. Not a particularly difficult operation with the correct tools.

You might also try an application of light machine oil (SAE 10; 3 in 1 oil, etc.) to the pivots.

It is difficult to imagine that a dead rat, drum stick or whatever would somehow magically disappear after ten minutes of playing.

Two things occur to me:

First, I don't how much you have been playing, and how hard you are pushing things... but when you play, your lips swell a bit, especially you are doing a lot of playing are not used to it. That seems to be something that might happen after ten minutes, maybe.

Second, I bought an ancient Mirafone 186 Bb, built in 1952. No lacquer, but in decent shape. Hadn't been played in years; valves and slides all stuck.
All the stops dented into the cork. Never had a rotary tuba, I never knew much about alignment. Spent a while cleaning and got everything moving, and it played decent, in tune, fair tone. Not great... but I thought it was okay, just old and leaky and a little puny sounding. After a year or two one of the corks disintegrated, so I replaced all the corks with neoprene and shaved the bumpers until they were perfect aligned. Blew the first note and BOOM! What a sound! Geez... so THAT'S what this horn sounds like??!! I never knew! So you might want to check the alignment.

John Thompson
Music for Band... listen to music. Google "JTbandmusic" and "Pepper"

They kind of sound like this... https://www.facebook.com/groups/1439233 ... 160681566/

So... I got the leadpipe position and angle adjusted to fit me, and now it's much better. The repair craftsman also removed a dent from the valve end of the leadpipe while it was off the horn, but I suspect that was less important than having a much better angle for the mouthpiece. Besides, as John Thompson and some others have pointed out, the dent didn't change after ten minutes, and things related to me probably do.

Thanks for all the suggestions!