Re: Re: Re: PT 15


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by js on August 20, 2003 at 20:19:26:

In Reply to: Re: Re: PT 15 posted by JF on August 20, 2003 at 00:56:52:

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Bob Tucci nor Dan Perantoni with a roll of solder and torch in their hands, much less a bottom bow guard plate, but I don't deny their collective intelligence about tuba playing.

Gerhard Meinl knows infinitely more about building tubas - and selling them - than I do, but my personal recollection of what the Melton/Meinl-Weston company was selling as F tubas (at the time the B&S "Symphonie" F tuba hit the world market - late 1970's) was not particularly impressive. Today I see several approximate "knock-offs" of the original B&S "Symphonie" F design (though with distorted capillary bores) - many seemingly produced by Melton/Meinl-Weston.

I liken what has evolved from the original B&S "Symphonie" F tuba design to what happened to Selmer (Paris, France) saxophones. Selmer, originally purchased from Adolphe Sax, is - by definition - "THE" SAXophone manufacturer. After decades and decades of getting better and better, the Selmer Company (Paris) finally came up with "the ultimate" saxophone - the "Mark VI". This instrument model (alto-tenor-baritone) was so popular and so acoustically near-perfect that Selmer made this model for a longer period of time in their production history than any other model - from the 1950's well into the 1970's. Finally, the Selmer company listened to quite a bit of bad advice and, frankly, ruined their product. In the mid-'70's, Selmer abandoned the amazing Mark VI (even today, seeked out over any other model of saxophone by the most discriminating players) for a "new improved" model, the "Mark VII". It was a disaster. Based on familiar "bigger is better" principles, resonance, resistance, voicing, and intonation were all thrown out of balance. The "Mark VII" was a "student" model playing-wise in comparison to the abandoned "Mark VI". However, this didn't keep Selmer from selling a lot of "Mark VII" saxophones, and it didn't keep a lot of prominent saxophonists (mostly college teacher types, though) from endorsing the new "Mark VII", and to this day, Selmer is still "off track" as the models produced after the "Mark VII" (all called "Super Action 80 series I,II,III..." ad infinitum) are all "Mark VII" variants. Just as in the tuba world, the vast majority of saxophonists can't really distinguish between a good instrument and an amazing instrument.

Today, there are a lot of good F tubas, and a lot of good BBb, EEb, and CC tubas, for that matter. A few amazing instruments were made in the past, and a few continue to be made. These instruments are never particularly hailed by the masses. The masses don't particularly appreciate them, nor do the masses have an opportunity - in general - to experience them.

Am I saying that all of the B&S "Symphonie" F tubas were "magic"? NO, absolutely not. Just like the "Mark VI" amazing saxophones, the "Symphonie" F tubas were plagued with inconsistancy from one instrument to the next. I've played a few B&S Symphonie tubas that were not special. However, I've never played a B&S Symphonie F that played any worse than a "PT" version, yet the reverse is not true.

Getting back to Gerhard Meinl's knowledge of F tuba designs, I don't recall very many folks hailing his F tubas until they (quite a few years ago) began to roughly resemble the overall B&S design. As to the "questionable" (Db to B natural below the staff) range's playability on any of the "since 1980's" MW F tubas - "nnyaah".

My attitudes: elitist?... opinionated?... almost certainly (and without any earned right to those adjectives), yet I do know what I like - and appreciate what I like...and so far, I haven't found any F tubas with playing characteristics exceeding those of the very best of the B&S "Symphonie" F tubas.

My knowledge of tuba design? So far, three of the four or so tubas I've "Frankensteined" together have been mediocre successes at best...One of the four was quite a success, but I have no idea why.


Follow Ups: