B.A.R.T.

[MartyNeilan]

The WWI vintage Big A-- Rotary Tuba (aka BART) arrived from Dillon's today. The profile is definitely different from your typical German Kaisertuba; its 40" height puts it at or just slightly above the typical American BAT in height, several inches shorter than most Kaisers. The horn has considerably more girth to it than many Kaiser tubas and is more reminiscent of the 6/4 taper.
Matt and Vladimir made an adapter to allow the tuba to take a regular mouthpiece; the receiver was very large and also not a Morse taper. With just the adapter and a Sellmansberger #1 Solo (American shank) it plays up to pitch with a little room to spare. The mouthpiece goes in the adapter pretty far, so a Euro shank would probably fit it, but would drop the pitch a hair. Matt also threw in a Conn sousaphone bit, as the previously shortened leadpipe has the York 45 degree angle of only coming partway around the bell. The sousa bit does not make it go too flat but seems to change the otherwise decent intonation tendencies a little. A deeper mouthpiece like the Blokepiece Symphony does starts to make the overall pitch more questionable, but such a large horn usually works best with something of modest depth. As expected, the tuba is surprisingly lightweight for its size due to its vintage.
This tuba is not perfect, but very playable as-is. I am pulling the 4th out a lot to put C# and low F# and F in tune as 24 and 14 (with low E as 34), and using 13 for the D and G. I will play the D in the staff 13, but if I push in 1 to rock bottom it seems to make it as well. I may eventually use a couple of other alternates, but intonation with the #1 Solo seems quite reasonable. I will also try the #2 on it. False tones are good. Pulling the top and bottom bows and having two dents ironed out may improve pitch further, but that is a project for another time. Some day I may put a short leadpipe and 4 piston 1 rotor valveset on it and make it more "Yorkish," but the horn is usable without any major modifications. I will immediately cut the lower strap ring off, as that does get in the way with the 45 degree angle of holding it. I may shorten the third slide a little, I am not sure yet. I will start using this tuba for some things immediately as I become acclimated to it, and I may play the second part for Rite of Spring on it in the spring. I have only been able to play on the horn softly as this was during my lunch at work; I will open up on it later. The horn reminds me some of the Miraphone 190 I used to own, but blows a little more open and has much chunkier bows.
I figured this horn would make an interesting project, and so far I am not disappointed.

[Frank Ortega]

OH! All I could think of was Bay Area Rapid Transit! : P

Seriously, a very warm and responsive instrument.

Good luck with it!

Frank

[bort]

What strikes me is how "rounded" it is, no sharp angles anywhere. Curious to see a few pictures "in the wild." Planning to polish it up, or keep the patina?

[bisontuba]

Marty-
Congratulations--looks nice. Possibly ordering an AGR from Matt might help also to 'firm it up.'
Have fun with it!
mark

[iiipopes]

Great tuba. I played a concert a couple of years ago with a guy who had a similar tuba, pitched in BBb, with the adaptor and everything.

Try a Bach 18 on this tuba. For some reason, that combination of cup/throat/backbore seems to really work for good intonation, and the cup will give a few more overtones that compliment the wide throat bell, and really improved intonation ovverall.

[MartyNeilan]

Tonight I torched off the lower strap ring (huge) and the castrator on the bottom (not seen in the picture.) I was particularly careful not to loosen the thin bottom bow guard plate. I can now breathe better while playing it, both literally and figuratively.

I may wind up trimming 1/4 - 3/8" off the main slide. It is pretty short already, but that amount would give me just a bit more comfort zone in the pitch without desoldering any braces. I will most likely also take some off the third slide eventually; I haven't made up my mind yet but it is probably in the neighborhood of 3/4". I started polishing the front of the bell and it will definitely shine up; I doubt I will ever do more than the inner and outer bell above the leadpipe.

[MartyNeilan]

Took nearly 3/8" off the main slide, 3/16" off the first slide, and almost an inch off the third slide. Also torched what was left of the other strap ring off, as the baseplate had sharp edges from where the ring had long ago broken off.
Still using the Blokepiece #1 with an adapter. Anything much bigger lowers the overall pitch to where the horn won't quite make it. Looking for a #2 Euro to try as well. Pitch on this horn is NOT BAD AT ALL, though. Still prefer 1-3 for D in the staff over 1 pushed, although with the most recent adjustments it will just about make it now. Using 1-3 combinations instead of 4, with the 4th slide pulled out several inches, in between what would put 2-4 and 1-4 in tune. With that pulled 4th slide setting, low E works 3-4, low Eb 1-3-4 (push 1 all the way) and low D 1-2-3-4 (pull 1). Low Db false tones and pedal CC is a monster. Top line Ab is the only low 2-3 note now, but has been moved to within lippable range or slots perfectly 2-4.
With continued tweaking, this horn can definitely become a regular use 6/4 tuba instead of the collector's item / ToobahChristmas novelty it was destined for.
May eventually torch off the thumb ring, as I don't use it, particularly with the 45 degree seating angle presently required from the previously shortened leadpipe. (Worked for Jake all those years.)
Horn will shine up nice, but will take a LOT of elbow grease (and Simichrome) to do that.
BART is still a work in progress, but it is definitely getting there.

[MartyNeilan]

' looks like a possible former BBb.

I was thinking the same, but the claim is that it was originally a "low pitch" CC. Since none of the original builders are still alive (manufactured circa WWI) and there is no "shop card," that is open to speculation and will probably never be fully known. Kinda like another CC I have had in my possession
The leadpipe, tuning slide, and one of the inner bows were all substantially chopped prior to its appearance at Dillon, which lends credence to the BBb theory. Either way, it is a very interesting large horn that is becoming more and more playable. May have to take it down to Blokeville for dent work and other mods some day (A large dent in the bottom bow and one in the side of the top bow are not visible in the photo and under dent-eraser-resistant nickle silver "guards" and I am not sure I am comfortable venting the first rotor myself; they were replated and compression is excellent.)

[imperialbari]

This one doesn’t look very German, to me at least, in its overall outlining. It could very well have been made for the American market from the outset.

Were US orchestras playing to low pitch A=435Hz up until 1920? If so, I never heard about it. And chopping from low CC to now standard CC hardly would take off as much tubing as described. Rather it could have been a high pitch BBb.

Are there photos showing the wrapping on the rear?

Klaus