Posted by Rick Denney on October 27, 2000 at 10:43:27:
In Reply to: low range on F- Tubas posted by Robert on October 26, 2000 at 13:00:56:
It's more than the bore.
Mostly, it's the player and his concept of the low notes. Many will tell you that the rotary F's, like the Alexander, have a wonderful low register, and my ears verify their claims. But they also say that you have to approach the low register in the right way on those instruments to get that result. I believe this fervently, because I can't do it.
That said, my Yamaha 621, with a .690 bore, just seems to go on forever into the low range. Why on that horn and not on a B&S? It must be the taper design (including the leadpipe taper).
An interesting question that must be answered before this question can be answered: What constitutes a good low register? My personal definition is two-fold: 1.) When I blow, the notes come out, and 2.) they sound the same as higher notes except for the pitch. A larger-bore may make the first item harder to obtain. Resistance is not always bad. And the consistency of the scale of the instrument seems to have more to do with the taper design than anything else.
Rick "needs all the low-range help he can get" Denney