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Good afternoon guys, what are some common add-ons and Modifications you guys have done, or seen done on horns. (Mostly wanting to hear about Front action tuba Modifications, but all are welcome, it may help someone else) for those who have had the Modifications added, what has been your experience with it?

Some of the Modifications I have thought of before posting this are...

Tuning slide kickers
MAW valves
Venting valves
PVAK
Heavy caps
AGR/new receivers
York style/new leadpipes
Reversed tuning slides (only seen on main)

What are the benefits of these? Pros and Cons?

Tuning slide kickers -- makes a tuba with bad intonation more playable; shows the world, "hey, this tuba has tuning issues". Not a big deal though,busually. Can also be for lazy tuba players who only want 1 thing to move.

MAW valves -- more open sound and better slurring between notes. Tubas are perfectly playable without them; some instruments and people do better without them, too.

Venting valves -- smoother transitions between notes, and better action with tuning slide pushing/pulling. Can screw up valve casings if it's done wrong.

PVAK - valve alignments that are accurate and will never change due to old corks or pads. Very noisy, and if you know what corks and pads you need, that's a whole lot cheaper.

Heavy caps -- more mass will deaden the resonance and add more projection to the sound. So they say. How heavy does a cap need to be on a 25 pound tuba to make a difference? Yikes...

AGR -- can pick the right size gap for the mouthpiece to end of the leadpipe to give the response you want. To me, it's just another set of variables. You'd better know and understand the tuba really well to begin with, to know what you want to change it to be.

Leadpipes -- the York ones were short (better response) but a weird angle to hold the tuba, which was uncomfortable. Messing around with a leadpipe is not for lightweights.

Reversed tuning slides -- the airflow.should go over an edge to go into the tuning slide, to avoid disruptions in airflow. As opposed to airflow hitting the end of the tubing slide to enter into it. Makes a difference on trumpets and smaller brass. For tubas I'm skeptical, especially when people also try to convince you that "dents do not affect playability". Ok... So the tuning slide interrupting the airflow is a big deal, but the dent isn't?

You can also add lightweight springs (easier to mash down, but slower to come up), and lightweight finger buttons (less mass means lighter and faster valves).

I am still debating weather a turbocharger or a supercharger would be better for my tuba.

An aerophore for those really long passages with no place to sneak a breath.

If I go back to pistons I may employ additional spit valves.

I've heard a good mouthpiece is a wonderful accessory....

Mark wrote:I am still debating weather a turbocharger or a supercharger would be better for my tuba.

Supercharger, unless you really want to anticipate the turbo spin up lag.