Posted by C(G) on July 17, 2003 at 10:13:47:
In Reply to: To Brace or Not To Brace? (repair quest) posted by Philip Jensen on July 17, 2003 at 10:05:50:
Maybe. Try moving each branch relative to its neighbor--do things flex or are they rigid? If they flex, you'll probably want to add a brace to stabilize things. Also, observe the way you hold and pick the tuba up--without the extra bracing will an isolated branch have to bear the entire load or is there sufficient bracing to distribute the load?
Maybe the minimalists will disagree, but I feel that a tuba should have enough bracing to make it a solid unit. This business about less bracing meaning more resonance seems to fly in the face of reason. If something is flapping in the breeze when you're playing, it seems to me that it means only that energy that could be transferred to the bell is being wasted as heat.