Tuba = watertight??

[Aardvark892]

Once a month, I run a half dixie cup worth's of warm water down the bell of my Cerveni 646-4PRX. I slowly turn the tuba around and around to rinse it out. My question to you all is, should my tuba be watertight? I ask this because just before the water gets to the (removed) main tuning slide (where I expect the water to come out), it instead pours out of all four (removed) valve slides. Shouldn't the water NOT go down the valve tuning slides if the valves are not depressed, and instead pass through to the main tuning slide?

Thank you for any advice/help you can provide!

Tim

[Dan Schultz]

I'm really confused! You say you are pouring water down the bell? .... and the water comes through to the tuning slides? That can't happen with the main tuning slide out.

Now... if you said you poured the water down the LEADPIPE I would say you have serious compression problems!

Rethink your post and try it again.

[Levaix]

He might have a tuning slide that comes before the valves. (Rare but does happen.)

Either way, that probably shouldn't be happening...

EDIT: Nm, he put the model number...

[Aardvark892]

Yea, that doesn't make sense, does it. The main tuning slide comes before the valves when you're tracing back from the bell. I must have been mistaken. Maybe when the water came out, some of it ran down the outside of the horn, and appeared to come out of the valve slides.

I'll check it more closely next week.

I apologize for the waste of bits and bytes, and your time.

[aqualung]

You expect to flush out the entire tuba with only half a dixiecup of water ???

[Alex C]

Are you certain the water coming out of the valve slides is from your Dixie cup and not condensation from playing.

If it is water from you Dixie cup, it means 1) that your valves are really badly aligned or 2) that they leak a lot. Some people prefer leaky valves.