leadpipe angle

[Art Hovey]

I like to rest the tuba either on my lap or on the chair, and I like to sit back on the chair.
For my a tuba stand would not work because it would move the bottom of the tuba forward several inches. I would have to scoot forward or else tilt the tuba back. The former would be tiresome and the latter would force me to blow uphill, and I don't like that at all.

[Jack Denniston]

I have this angle problem too. I'm a pronounced downstream player.

On my old King 2341 I had the receiver end of my lead pipe raised a little over 1" so the mouthpiece now meets my face just right without me having to make any adjustments to my posture, jaw, neck, etc. Much more relaxed, natural, and comfortable. Moving the lead pipe did leave a noticeable scar where it was originally attached to the bell, but it's an ugly old thing anyway.

I have a similar issue with my Willson 3400S but I'm much less comfortable moving the lead pipe on this instrument. The angle isn't as "wrong" for me, I hate to mess up the pretty finish, and the next owner may not be a downstream player.

[MaryAnn]

well, I tried some different things tonight. I think it may have been bloke who mentioned the guitar foot stand. Since I already had one of those, I put it under my left foot and that sure solved the "sliding" problem on the tuba stand. Then, since I need the bow closer to me, I decided to see if sitting on a small phone book and putting the bow on the chair in front of me, would help. It did, a lot. And with the guitar stand, I even had one foot securely with weight on it. My legs are so short between knee and ankle that my legs will dangle on many chairs, just like a kid. Most of my leg height is in my thighs, contrary to a lot of people whose lower legs are the long part.
So, with the guitar foot stand, the phone book, and the bow on the chair, the angle was much improved. I got from the Ab below pedal Eb to a clear Bb in the middle of the treble clef, just because the angle was pretty much fixed. I had to scoot the mpc to the right to get my nose out of the way once I got above Eb in the treble clef, but WTH, a note is a note.

[Samcai8]

For marching contra, it's annoying sometimes unless the leadpipe is bent up.
For normal tubas, I just let the tuba fall forward a bit. I have an overbite and the MW25 copy I'm using has a 90* leadpipe.

People have mouthpieces bent and a leadpipe bend shouldn't be too crazy either.