Making a gold brass lacquered tuba sound brighter?

[CJ Krause]

***

[Roger Lewis]

When I want to make my Yorkbrunner brighter with a little more clarity to the sound I change from the PT88 I use in symphonic settings to a TU23 (or old C4) Miraphone mouthpiece. It gives it more of a solo sound and makes it speak quicker but costs nothing in carrying power. In general a shallower mouthpiece will brighten things up and a sharper inner rim will do the same as well. Go shallow.


When I want to make my F sound darker and bigger I use the PT88 on it.

Roger

[Alex C]

Don't strip the lacquer off of your horn, Charlie. Just don't.

Use a more shallow cup mouthpiece, if it works for you but don't strip your horn for the sake of quintet playing.

[imperialbari]

When asthma started periodically affecting my trombone playing, I stripped the lacquer off the inside of the bell of my gold brass .547 Sovereign trombone.

Objectice or subjective effect? I don't know, but it made playing easier for me, so I also stripped the lacquer off the outside of the bell down to the first main stay.

Effects perceived being even better.

When I got a Sovereign bass bone I did the same procedures. Helpful!

But then the Sovereigns are heavily built instruments.

I never have been tempted to do the same with my Kings: 2B+ and 7B. Both with gold brass bells, but in thinner metal.

Klaus

[CJ Krause]

Klaus

what did you strip the lacquer off with when you did the inside and outside of the bell?

did you tape off or cover anything to make sure nothing else got hit?

charlie

[imperialbari]

Its been long ago, so I don't remember all details.

As for chemistry I think some acetone was involved. But I had to keep chemicals low because of my sore lungs. So I involved a mechanical factor:

I took a teaspoon. Put my thumb inside the "blade" and pressed the spheric outside gently against the lacquer, which had been brittled by the acetone. that helped the lacquer flake.

Then wipe off the flakes, and after applying acetone again came a new round with the teaspoon.

I didn't go for beauty of looks but for effective playing.

I think it is mostly a matter of weight (of the bell wall), of surface structure, and of the flexibility properties of the combined wall (RD knows the words on that).

That would make me suggest a strategy for your purpose something like this:

Tape off a perimeter of the inside bell a little below the throat. Then remove the lacquer INSIDE the upper bell stack.

That way you harm the looks the least. If you like the effect and want more of it, then tape off a perimeter closer to the bell rim.

The test thoroughly over maybe more days. If you like the effect, then you have to decie, whether you will remove the lacquer from the inside of the bell in one or more increaments.

After that I would play some months before I would decide if I would take off the lacquer at the outside of the bell.

Klaus

[Adam C.]

I am of the opinion that what I ate for lunch and my current mood will affect my sound more than the lacquer/nonlacquer of my instrument, for what it's worth.