Posted by DOug on November 16, 2001 at 23:22:51:
Hey everyone.
Interesting happenings down in georgis right now. About two years ago I acquired my absolutely wonderful Mirafone 186 horn. Plays great, good sound, good response, in tune, i love it. Few dings in places, but who cares? It sounds good.
ANYWAY, the horn dates back to around 1971 and has the S style linkages on the valves. For two years ive had to endure what seemed to be a never ending "CLICK" everytime i pushed down a valve. I discovered, though, that i could temorarily eliminate the noise by pullin the valve slide and then depressing the valve, and somehow the air pressure got rid of the click......until i put the horn away or it got bumped or played too long.
Early on, the guys i bought the horn from, as well as the local music store that services my high school, had told me that this click was just one of the features of hold horns, especially those with s linkages on them. I accepted this, and quickly got used to the above routine of pulling slides before every performance and audition.
Well, surprise surprise, about 2-3 wekks ago, if some of you remember, the stem on my 4th valve popped off. This was a major problem, and until it was fixed the horn was unplayable, because i had no control over the 4th valve.
Under the reccommendation of DAVID ZERKEL at UGA, my dad and i contacted a guy in lawrenceville who services UGA's tubas. Well, he said, not only could he fix the broken valve, but he would take a look at the clicking sound.
SIX days later, i get back my tuba, and not only is the valve fixed, but these "old noisy s linkage valves" NOW ARE FAST, QUIET VALVES AND I'VE NOT SEEN BETTER ONES OF ANY TYPE IN A LONG TIME.
So what's the deal? Is this guy some magician or are the other guys i talked to earlier just stupid, or is fixing that old click a fairly new technique or what? Im thrilled that my horn is now officially perfect, but i'd just like to know how and why.
Thanks for reading this long post
Doug "I play that OOM-PAH brass thingy" G