Re: Re: Whatup with the.....


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

Posted by groniter on February 02, 2004 at 12:14:05:

In Reply to: Re: Whatup with the..... posted by Tony Clements on February 02, 2004 at 10:36:50:

My PCK hits A=440 with about 3/8" pull (total 3/4") to spare...this with an extra-large-throat deep "helleberg"-style mouthpiece. I can play 1st valve D with the 1st slide all the way in - no additional cutting required. I added several waterkeys, piston vents, slide refits, special piston bumpers, and 5th valve linkage re-engineering to come closer to approaching "the perfect tuba".

I've played my PCK back-to-back to a "Yorkbrunner". Based on ease of playability/quality of sound/volume of sound/intonation, the Yorkbrunner should - IMO - be priced considerably lower than the PCK...

Just like Alan (for those who watched the recent NYP Brahms broadcast), I have to stay fairly "busy" with my #1 slide to keep the instrument on dead-center, but then again there are several models of 6/4 tubas that mere 1st slide manipulation would solve few of their problems, and these instruments are so far out-of-tune with themselves that they are very frequently cycled from player-to-player-to-player over the years.

Advantages of the PCK include

- in tune open 3rd-G, though slightly flat (maybe 10 c.) upper open g
- only very slightly flat 2nd-C partial
- open e and d# are dead-on
- false tones are quite player-friendly
- though very thin and easy-to-dent (a gig bag being totally inappropriate for this instrument!), the PCK is incredibly lightweight (lighter than my 6V F!)
- the "German"-style full wrap-around mouthpipe offers infinite ergonomic and balance advantages over 45°-wrap Holton-Yorkbrunner (half-wrap too-short) mouthpipes.
- The mouthpipe tube logically begins just slightly larger than the final opening of a very large mouthpiece, rather than commonly-found "truck tailpipe" size (inhibiting focus) 6/4 mouthpipes.


Minor "work-arounds" include

- both 2nd valve F#'s seem to hang just barely high (about 10 c. without "lipping")
- both 1st valve F's are quite high, but are very responsive to about a 1-1/2" pull.
- lower 1-2 E natural requires the same pull, but (for me) the common substitute 3rd-valve E is a bit too flat, since I like to keep the 3rd valve slide pre-pulled for the 2-3 pitches.
____________________________

Beyond these comments, things are really going to depend on fingering and slide placement "decisions" by the user-owner, particularly in the low range. I've managed to find very easily-workable solutions to all "problems"...though not always the same solutions for different excerpts.
____________________________

Though the PCK is clearly the most player-friendly 6/4 tuba currently in existence, no 6/4-style instrument will offer the player its advantages without intensive familiarity. There is nothing that sounds worse (IMO) than a player with a "just-borrowed" or "heavily cobwebbed" 6/4 tuba.



Follow Ups: