Posted by Austin H. on April 01, 2001 at 22:57:09:
In Reply to: holton question posted by tuba player on April 01, 2001 at 22:04:56:
I have a similar 6/4 CC that seems to have similar problems. My dad built it out of a Conn BBb body, a Nirchl CC valve section, a Miraphone Kaiser (sp?) bell, and some other stuff. It aint pretty, but it plays well. He made a device that is a pull rod for the main tuning slide. I use it on just about every note, and have found that it works quite well. The second space and "middle" C's are very sharp, as are the B's a half step below them. My dad cut a little more out of the body so the bottom of the staff g is in tune with the slide pulled all the way in, and I could just compensate the other notes, so most of the notes have the slide out about 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch. It does get annoying, it hurts your arm, and curious other tubist who want to play your horn and don't know what to do with the slide are like "what??!!" But anyways, the advantage is that you can play pretty much all notes in tune once you learn it, and it's ALOT easier to adjust if you think you're flat/sharp. As for the stuffy notes, I've found that the A on the top line of the staff is a pain, and I usually finger it 3rd, which makes it flat even with everything pulled in, but it comes out easier. I'll hopefully put some pictures on my website of my (dad's) horn and of the main slide tuning rod so you'll know what the heck I'm talking about.
Austin "who wishes the thing wasn't so dang heavy taking it to school every day" Howle