Tuba Straight Mute

[Jay Bertolet]

For my Nirschl 6/4 (very similar is size and shape to your 2165), I use a Humes & Berg Symphonic Aluminum straight mute (large bore model, listed as #74848 in the current Brasswind catalog). As long as you have enough cork on the mute, such that the throat of the bell isn't completely closed off, the H&B makes the best sound of any of the mutes I've tried.

I think the problem with your current mute is that it goes too far into the bell, closing off too much of the bell throat. As an experiment, try playing your horn with the mute in and keep your hand on the mute while doing so. While playing, try adjusting how far into the bell the mutes goes. It doesn't matter if the mute is exactly centered in the bell for this purpose, just try different amounts of insertion into the bell and see if the sound/pitch change and whether you like it or not. You may be able to make your current mute work but it sometimes takes a bit of experimentation to figure out exactly how far into the bell the mute needs to be to produce the best sound and intonation. Once you figure that out, it's pretty easy to add corks to any mute so that they hold the mute in the exact position in the bell that you desire.

Good luck!

[olaness]

I had a visit this morning from a gentleman who's starting up a little mutemaking business. Both him and I live in England, and because of his being brought up with the brass band culture he had in mind making mutes for brass band instruments, however I got him over to see what he could do for my PT6, and for possibly then expanding his market to overseas and America too. His Eb tuba mute is really good: sounds good, is in tune (thats rare), comes in sections so you have a performance mute and practise mute in one and it can be put together in a different fashin so you can store it in the bell of the instrument inside the tuba case!

He used a mute he had made for a Besson BBb tuba and started modifying it for the much larger throat of the PT6 and in the end came up with a very fine result both on the practise mute and performance mute although it was more than a little makeshift. With a bit of luck he will be able to make a prototype one for me to take on tour in a few weeks time, and I can report to you on how it works. The way he was planning to make it work for the larger bell, it sounds like it would be fairly easy to make it fit just about any large tuba, if the size he makes it for the PT6 doesn't fit immediately.

Watch this space.

Ola

[Leland]

Is there something I can do to the mute to bring the pitch down, or should I just return to sender?

Try cutting a ring of cardboard or heavy paper stock and taping it to the narrow end of the mute (that is, if that end is merely a wide-open hole, and doesn't have a smaller circle cut out already).

After trying different sizes, I ended up with a ring about 1/2" deep (between inside diameter & outer diameter) on the H&B aluminum Symphonic mute that my college owned.

It's worth a shot, anyway.

[Leland]

You could always try lowering the resonance frequency of the mute by making the opening narrower in some way.

Ah, so that's what was happening with my modification I detailed above. It worked, but I never knew why.

It DOES affect the sound, though. In the case of the aluminum H&B mute, it made it less metallic.

This is the same principle that other mute builders employ when they put a flat piece on the narrow end with a hole in its center (like the N.P. Griffith mute I own now).

[Lee Stofer]

I'd recommend a Humes & Berg Symphonic Aluminum Straight mute, which comes in several sizes. I didn't know this until recently, that they make different sizes that just about cover the gamut of tuba sizes. If I'm trying to find the correct size mute for a particular tuba, I draw a tuba bell on a piece of paper, take measurements at several points, transfer this info onto the drawing, then FAX it to Humes & Berg, and they send me a mute that works.
My first H & B mute was the one I bought for my first Rudi 3/4 CC years ago, and it worked so well that I have never felt the need to look for anything else. And, H & B has fiberboard mute cases available for safe carrying.