Posted by Wade on December 13, 2003 at 03:20:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Smaller mouthpiece for bigger horn posted by Confused... on December 12, 2003 at 21:00:05:
Once upon a time, a standard modification to a 186-5U was to replace the leadpipe with the one designed for the 188-5U. The pipes both started and ended at the same diameter, but the 188 pipe expanded quicker, reaching cylindrical shape earlier than the 186 pipe, which had a slower taper. It was a good way to make the smaller tuba play "bigger" but I think it upset the normally very fine intonation of these instruments too much to become very popular.
On my Alex, the leadpipe has 8" of straight .820 tubing before entering the first valve. The reverse was tried on a few Alexanders in the 1970's by installing a 188-type pipe with a normal-sized mouthpiece receiver. This was an attempt to preserve the Alex sound while improving intonation (and removing all of the funky, home-made shank adapters so many used back then).
I think that this is the cause/effect thing that Joe is referring to in his post.
Wade "sorry for butting in, Joe" Rackley