? re: "Mighty Gnome" travel tuba

[barry grrr-ero]

Opinions please. Does it make any sense to get a 4 valve travel tuba in C when one needs to practice their parts with all five valves? Half the point, for me, is drilling the fingerings to the point of having them cold. Is anyone making a decent 5 valve travel tuba?

Just askin'

[Michael Bush]

I find switching between the MG and a five-valve 4/4 tuba isn't a problem from a fingering standpoint, but that may be an individual thing. My guess is that adding a fifth valve to a tuba that size would give a whole new meaning to "stuffy."

[Wyvern]

I have considered adding a 5th valve, but it is a matter of where to add in such a small tuba?

Anyone having a bright idea, feel free to PM or email me.

BTW The new Bubbie 5 was designed with the intention of having 5 valves right from the start

[BMadsen]

I have the Mighty Gnome (bought during the Black Friday Sale), and a 5-valve miraclone. I don't find switching between them to be a problem.

What I love about it is that it's a great size, and quite a good sound. Especially for situations that call for a little more rowdy sound. I've used it with Brass Bands and they love it.

IMO, it was quite a worthwhile purchase!

[Dan Schultz]

I have considered adding a 5th valve, but it is a matter of where to add in such a small tuba?

Anyone having a bright idea, feel free to PM or email me....

Put a slide on it and call it a 'Super Gnome'!

[barry grrr-ero]

Thanks everyone. It's good to read encouraging things about this particular instrument.

[Michael Bush]

I'm fixing to try this tuba out in an actual travel situation, other than in my own car. I'm going to carry it on my flights to and from the Army conference. If I didn't still have priority boarding with Delta from my time traveling a lot for work, I'm not sure I'd go for it, but I'm pretty confident of getting good overhead bin space. We'll see how it goes.

[barry grrr-ero]

I think the proper colloquialism would be "fixin' to" or - if you want to put in texting format - "fixin 2"

[Michael Bush]

...fixing to...

That's what ~I~ like to see: the King's English spoken as it should be

If that dad-bern flight attendant don't do right when it comes time, I'm gonna spit.

[pgym]

...fixing to...

That's what ~I~ like to see: the King's English spoken as it should be

If that dad-gum flight attendant don't do right when it comes time, I'm gonna spit.

FTFY.

[pecktime]

I took my Mighty Gnome on a journey from Austin, Texas to Wellington, New Zealand. At no stage was it remarked upon.

The sizes of bags that people are passing off as 'carry-on' these day is astounding.

[Michael Bush]

If that dad-gum flight attendant don't do right when it comes time, I'm gonna spit.

FTFY.

Heh. You must not live in Alabama.

[Michael Bush]

This instrument takes some getting used to, but it's gotten to where I really like it. Someone popped up looking for one a while back and I half-heartedly offered to sell. When I named a price the signal went silent. At this point I'm really glad.

The only things are:
1) there are a couple of rough notes, C & D in the staff are less than intuitive. And yes, I get that we'd all like that C to be easy, since it's a CC tuba. But one gets used to negotiating those notes without thinking; and
2) the carry-on baggage thing worked about 3/4 as well as I hoped. Which is to say, the trip had four legs (two coming and two going) as carry-on baggage, and the instrument only got damaged (by a flight attendant re-arranging things) on one of them. But it was a simple little bell crease that you'd be hard-pressed to find after the repair. And now I know how to predict and avoid that particular problem in the future.

After three months I find I like this little tuba quite a lot.

[Wyvern]

1) there are a couple of rough notes, C & D in the staff are less than intuitive. And yes, I get that we'd all like that C to be easy, since it's a CC tuba. But one gets used to negotiating those notes without thinking;

We have actually been working to improve response of those notes, and I found the latest batch to no longer have this problem when I play tested at factory. The C was just 15 cents off according to tuner which is easy to handle.

Michael, Pleased you are getting on well with the Gnome. Nice to meet you at US Army workshop.