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York Eb with funny slide loop
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 9:28 am
by Trevor Bjorklund
Is this instrument capable of playing in tune with a contemporary band?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 284wt_1139
Looks pretty cool - I'm digging the loop-de-loop in the tuning slide but I suspect it makes the pitch too low.
Re: York Eb with funny slide loop
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:46 pm
by Tom Coffey
Those loops, or more commonly, a gentle "W" shaped tuning slide, were often added to horns produced in the late 1800's or early 1900's to bring them down to modern pitch. The harder problem to fix is when the horn is too high, not too low.
I have a horn made by York in 1904 that is similar to this. It has difficult intonation, and I suspect some of it is because the slides do not exactly match the lowered pitch with the "W" tuning slide.
This horn is likely to be tunable to a modern Bb. The real question is whether the intonation within the tuba will allow the other notes to be played well enough in tune not to irritate your colleagues.
Your milage may, of course, vary.