To all tuba manufactures of the world: "Thumb rings"

[cjk]

I used to have thumb rings, but penicillin cleared them up.

[SplatterTone]

I used to have thumb rings

Me too. But the foreman made us stop standing around with our thumbs up our ...

[Jess Haney]

Or you can buy a Willson with an adjustable donut ring

[ppalan]

[GC]

Also in the dumb thumb ring design category: ring holders that clamp onto a valve slide. That's a perfect recipe for a messed up, sticking slide if the holder is tightened too much to keep it from slipping.

[dwerden]

Check out this Adams Custom tuba. The thumb ring is thick & round and appears to be fully adjustable for reach and angle. This horn is engraved and done in an antique finish.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I've found that most thumb rings are a little bit unhelpful. They're either too high, too low, or too thin, as the OP described. I've only played a few horns where I felt that a thumb ring was both necessary and helpful. I personally like 5-valve CC and BBb tubas without thumb rings, where you just rest your hand on the third or fourth valve slide.

[TubaSteve]

I recently had to chance to unpack and play a new King 2341 and was very impressed by the size of the thumb ring. I enjoyed playing this horn very much.

Steve

[Michael Bush]

I would advise everyone to avoid these Thein thumb rings.

Being either foolish, or not very worried in real life about what lies in Mordor, or both, I would have a thumb ring like that on my tuba without a moment of hesitation. That would be more than excellent.

[J.c. Sherman]

Some of us need thumb rings, and some of us prefer them to be adjustable. I'm one of them.

Some of us find playing an instrument without one nearly impossible, and some of us find playing most modern thumb levers wickedly uncomfortable.

The ergonomy of thumb rings seems to have been well determined and tested for over 150 years... I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

If you don't like yours to move, have it soldered. Remove it if you don't like it. Makers, please make the thumb levers on the MW-style instruments adjustable... I hate the hand cramps!

J.c. (who rarely has time to work on his own instruments)

[PaulMaybery]

Mark, you nailed the issue with the adjustable and swivel thumb ring. I just repaired mine for the nth time today and finally opted to solder the screw, ring and bar all together. Unfortunately that soft chinese brass broke before I got around to it so now the arm is about a half inch too short. Those damn screws never hold and on soft brass the threads just strip. I am eventually installing a bar to rest the heal of the hand and with that a nice one piece thumb ring soldered to it - right where I want it. The other option would be to make the support arm and ring from steel and perhaps the threads might hold better. But I never did care for that adjustable arm and ring just hanging out there in space. I do love those old European "doughnut rings." Comfy. The King CC that you got from me had a custom one put on that Eric Peterson made for me about 20 years ago. I loved it and miss it. I do like a ring when using the 5th Thumb valve - but then - even a half ring or just a perpendicular post would serve the purpose.
Paul (with too many projects on the back burner) Maybery