Joy key installation

[MaryAnn]

I saw some making fun of Joy keys on a post in the past....but they are a huge help to horn players. Horn tubing is so small and the condensation can build up really quickly based on dew point. You can gurgle pretty quickly in some weather conditions if you are not constantly emptying water in one way or another. I have amado keys on my horn but still have to empty slides, and do the steering wheel thing to have water run out the bell.

The Joy key is an airtight drain, basically, that allows the water to constantly drip out and does *not* interfere with the air flow. One friend of mine who is a high level European horn player, has 14 (fourteen) of them on his horn, and never, ever, has to pull a slide. This may be overkill but it works for him.

Since my tuba has no water key (it was removed) and I am finding it a bit time consuming to pull the slide (which was what I intended but....I'm going to need more than two measures' rest to do it,) I'm seriously considering putting a Joy key where that spit valve was. The thing about a Joy key, since it is a drain, is that the drain has to be in the exact right place before the water is going to run out of it, instead of forming a puddle in the general vicinity.

So I doubt anyone here has installed one but thought I'd ask. Before you make fun of it, the inventor is a personal friend of mine.....

[thevillagetuba]

Looking those up, it seems as though they are only made in the one size and (I have never used one nor heard of them until recently) I wonder if that might not drain quick enough for a tuba like yours which will have a lot of its water run to a single spot. I know I'm not helping answer your question, but I have been very satisfied with my Saturn waterkey which also has no impact on the interior or the slide. Best of luck and let us know what you find out!

[MaryAnn]

Thanks. I had also wondered about the size vs instrument. They are on a lot of (french) horns and on some larger single reed instruments, but I know of only one tuba and will have to go find that guy to see what he says. And my tuba does not just sit in one place when I play, so the drain moves about a little bit. I'm getting a little better at pulling the slide left handed but putting it back in a hurry I can see occasional problems occurring.