Extending a tuba from CC to BBb?

[Michael Bush]

No, I am not proposing to do this. Just wondering if it has been done. We talk from time to time about cutting BBb instruments to CC. What about going the other way? I have recently seen a picture of a tuba (which is for sale, and I'm not going to link to it and risk messing up the owner's sale) that raised the question in my mind, so I decided to throw it out there.

[Tom]

There have been extension main tuning slides offered by a few companies over the years to get tneir CC tubas to play in BBb, including Miraphone. More recently, the Getzen G-50 has been touted as a CC tuba that is convertable to play as a BBb tuba. How well those do or don't work has been discussed rather extensively in the past, so I won't go into all of that here in this post. I do, however, think there is a distinction to be made here: those were not intended to be permanent so that the CC tuba would ALWAYS play as a BBb. A BBb tuba physically cut to CC, on the other hand, is a permant change to the overall construction of the instrument and is much more extensive than a swap of tuning slides.

I am not aware of any tuba originally built in CC that has been converted to permanently play in BBb - not just extended main slides (removable/reversible), but actually really converted. If there are any, I'd like to take a look.

[bort]

The rotary B&S Neptune has a 5th valve that locks in the "on" position, to turn it into a BBb tuba. Seemed to work okay when I tried it on my old Neptune, but practically I just never thought there would be a reason to use that. I had heard that this was a feature for the German market.

[Michael Bush]

tuba originally built in CC that has been converted to permanently play in BBb - not just extended main slides (removable/reversible), but actually really converted.

That's the situation I am wondering about.

[Michael Bush]

Don't all the slides have to be extended to add the correct length to the whole horn and not just the main slide centering it down to BBb? Won't your other valve combos still be in "CC" and probably just a little flat?

Yes, I believe that would be true. It would involve lengthening all the tuning slides, not just the main bugle, unless those slides were already long enough to be pulled out to the necessary length.

[Ed Jones]

I used to have a 186 CC with the BBb crook. It was awful as a BBb tuba. The switch over on the Neptune is slightly less awful.

[PMeuph]

Don't all the slides have to be extended to add the correct length to the whole horn and not just the main slide centering it down to BBb? Won't your other valve combos still be in "CC" and probably just a little flat?

Yes, I believe that would be true. It would involve lengthening all the tuning slides, not just the main bugle, unless those slides were already long enough to be pulled out to the necessary length.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55568#p473362" target="_blank

[Dan Schultz]

Don't all the slides have to be extended to add the correct length to the whole horn and not just the main slide centering it down to BBb? Won't your other valve combos still be in "CC" and probably just a little flat?

Sort of. ... except you would be sharp instead of flat.

Going from CC to BBb would require about 12% additional tubing to all of the circuits. If there isn't enough 'pull'... the inner tubes would need to be extended.

Adding tubing to the valve circuits is what it is. But... adding straight-bore tubing to the open bugle is often a disaster. The entire open bugle needs to be conical.

[TubaZac2012]

This is an interesting topic. Didn't the Holton have models that had a long tuning slide so you could either play it in BBb or CC? Has anyone played one? I'd love to know how it played.

[Ken Herrick]

Jake's Holton CC which he had at home (c. 1965 ) was not bad as a BBb when the 5th valve was held down and the slides for 1 - 4 pulled. Back then a high % of his students were playing BBb rather than CC so he would set it up that way so it would feel more natural for them to use in lessons instead of carting their own tuba around.