piston valve set question

[roweenie]

Mark,

I'm absolutely certain they are. Maybe I misspoke when I used the word "quality" (I probably should have written "qualities"). My point is that since I have never owned any rotary valve tubas, I am not in a position to make any comments as to how they "handle", compared to other manufacturers.

No offense was intended to Mirafone, Mirafone owners, or rotary valves in general...

Bob

[Lars Trawen]

Alexander buys valves and connecting ferrules. I used to have a link to the company but have lost it and cannot remember the name. However, they also supply Dan Rauch for all his French horns. Or they did for years if not so today. (I cannot attest to Rauch horns today. I have not seen a new one for years.) But he told my wife that he used new "Alex" parts that he purchased from their supplier. (This was back when she lived over there and studied with Frøydis.)

Alexander does certainly buy the valves from J. Meinlschmidt http://jm-gmbh.de/index.html
At least they refer to Alexander. Not only for tubas but also for French horns. They have a very good reputation.
Regards,
Lars

[roweenie]

*

[roweenie]

P.S. - if I came to the wrong conclusions above, I'm sorry for that too

[joh_tuba]

At the risk of hi-jacking this thread to satisfy my curiosity:

Watching the video of the rotary valve assembly raises a question for me: Are the newest valves built with a nickel sleeve inside the casing?

They show the valve ports installed on the casing and historically manufacturers have simply honed the inside round to accept the rotor. BUT in the video they show a rotor body spinning inside what looks like a nickel sleeve. Is that for demonstration purposes or an improved manufacturing step?

I could imagine a lot of theoretical potential benefits from a sleeved casing both from the manufacturing side and from a performance maintenance standpoint.

Thoughts?