"A rare opportunity to own one of the tubas that changed British history! The Fletcher family have decided to sell this wonderful instrument following the death of John’s widow, Margaret Cable. The proceeds of the sale are to be entirely donated to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. The J ...

Just to let you now, Carl Mercer from Mercer and Barker mouthpieces will be at NABBA on the Wessex stand, with the full range of M+B mouthpieces available, including my model (MB5 Cattanach) and the new Lake Monster in collaboration with the Five Lakes Band. Go and say hi, mention my name and have a ...

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 11:23 am Thanks for that @andycat. Great chart. I missed that.

Those Neo pieces seem to be a mystery!

I've been with Yamaha recently, band are getting 2 Neo EEb's, and neither rep has even mentioned the mouthpieces!

Since they’re sort of the standard, does there exist a direct comparison chart, etc. between the Wick/Bach/M&B pieces? This is a bit more for @andycat… Andy, have you had any “face time” with the new Yamaha NEO tuba mouthpieces, the 67D4 and 68D4? I’m curious what you thought if you did. https://mer ...

Luckily for me, I had an almost blank canvas. Carl Mercer and George Barker are both friends, and also very local to me (less than 3 miles away...) so I could pass by almost every day if required. Lots of ideas after 30 years of playing Wicks, Bachs, PT, Finns, KG etc, so I picked what I liked from ...

Hi, Yes, I helped develop the range of Mercer and Barker Tuba mouthpieces. They also have ranges for all brass band instruments, and a very popular range of trombone mouthpieces getting traction in the Orchestral world. My particular model, the MB5, was designed (selfishly) for my particular use ...

Chew your tongue, or (my favourite) lick your finger and rub behind your ear. Both produce saliva.

We don't do Tuba Christmas over here really, but I'd love to get some of the charts as 4 of us (2 euph/ EEb, BBb) are doing some charity gigs this year raising money for a family member who's just been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. Happy to pay, just need digital downloads to print off! Any ...

I'm off to this, this week, never travelled as far before! Foden's are one of the headline acts. We play 8th-11th.

Anyone done the Festival before, or going this year?

The UK's series of Brass Band Regional Championships kicked off this weekend. In the North West area (Lancashire, Cheshire and bits of Cumbria) we (Foden's) were placed first in the Top Section for the 8th year running. We'd already pre qualified for the finals anyway, but the piece is of interest ...

The best Tuba parts exist in the Brass Band repertoire

In (semi) defence, surely you can't have double whole?? Whole is, well, whole? and a 1/128th?? Get a grip!

I think people who really hate mutes either have tubas that aren't very suited to mutes or have mutes that aren't really suited to their tubas. It's kind of fun to play the tuba with a really good mute that works with a tuba. I hate mutes. We have 3 different performances in the next month alone ...

As a former member of Besses, they admoitted women in the late 1980's. I was a member of Faireys in 2000-2004, and they only admitted women after that!

Whereas Foden's (Where I was in the 1990-94 time, as now) already had women when I joined.

I have a pivot/shift. Covers about 4 notes depending on articulation/volume required. It's always worked for me.

[ If we're guessing the the rest of the instrument's taper has not been changed (not known, obviously), I wonder if the bell size alters intonation characteristics, and if (??) the entire bell is larger, and not just the horizontal flare. With most all of the old 17"-bell Edgware ones, the only ...

If they DID start making these again, or a modern manufacturer off this design, 3+1 with 19" bell, it would be the best compensator around bar none. I have the Imperial version of this, but nowhere near as pretty. But the sound and tuning are fantastic. If it had a 19" bell I'd use it more. The 17 ...

BramJ wrote: ↑Thu Oct 26, 2023 2:07 am The imperials and 992 have the "inner upper bow" above the valve cluster, right? like the Yamaha Neo

That's correct, with a false handbrace

Imperial/New standard etc up to late 70's/early 80's
992 from early 80's
994 late 80's
994GS late 90's on
recent ones no idea!

Imps/992 best IMHO, but a good early 994 is better than any of the shorter fatter ones (GS onwards)

HI, slightly biased here, but if I were buying a new set today, I'd go Neo all the way. Late 80's/early 90's EEb and BBb were the very best, before they moved away from the models based on the Imperials. Over here there's a clamour for 19" bell Imperial versions of both flavours. But new, off the ...