Posted by Rick Denney on August 13, 2001 at 10:37:31:
In Reply to: Re: Gronitz double tuba (?) posted by Fred Youg on August 12, 2001 at 19:13:03:
Donald Stauffer has a picture of a custom York double tuba. It is a full double, pitched in F and BBb, with four double piston valves. The pistons are over a foot long, each serving two independent valve sections. The switch valves are, as Dr. Young described, in the leadpipe and downstream from the fourth valve. Both are rotaries operated by the same trigger, and the downstream switch rotary is about four inches in diameter.
The whole instrument was wrapped in a conventional shape for a lap tuba with front-action valves, though it was thicker back to front, and I'd bet it weighs, well, lots. There was not a lot of unenclosed space between the outer branches.
Stauffer attributed the instrument to Vince Simmonetti, who probably still owns it. Seeing it in person might be worth pretending to be interested in a St. Pete or Kalison. If the picture alone will satisfy you, Donald Stauffer's A Treatise on the Tuba is still available. I bought my copy from Amazon, despite what I would call a decidedly home-brewed approach to publishing. It's a good book to have, and not just because of the pictures of some classic old tubas.
Rick "who thinks that giant switch valve must either be hollow or weigh a ton" Denney