Question about "gargling"Eastman 632 CC

[hubert]

This tuba is a pleasure and a privilige to play. But one issue is bothering me: water is collecting very fast on different places, from where it causes the awful "gargling" sound. Is there anyone of you, who recognizes this and has some advice for me? Adding water keys (originally there is only one) or a kind of special "gymnastics" with the instrument? There is not always enough time to pull and empty all the lower branches when "in action". Thanks a lot in advance for your kind advice!!
Best,
Hubert

[bloke]

Some people here know that I built more than one or two successful instruments for myself in the past, and one of them that I currently own has seven water keys. One of the past ones that I built, played for several years, and eventually sold - discussed briefly a short recent thread - also had seven water keys.

I personally prefer old-school lever water keys with corks - the type that all manufacturers install. I outfit mine with "mushroom" corks from Europe, which last quite a few years. I prefer regular/simple lever water keys because they let out a lot of water quickly, and there aren't any proprietary parts to get from some single place (if it remains in business...??) if some component on any of them gets bent or broken.

You can probably get water keys that match the rest of those on your instrument from some Eastman dealer, or there's a jobber in Wisconsin (that sells only to repair shops) which has large straight and curved ones that are just like the Meinl-Weston/B&S ones, except they are yellow brass, instead of nickel brass.

Also discussed in a recent thread, water can tend to pool up slightly more when an instrument's interior becomes coated with that nasty slime stuff, because water can tend to pool on the wrong sides of those gooey tabs instead of flowing through the instrument towards exit points. That thread discusses flushing out a tuba (blasting out slime) every months by removing the main slide and jetting hot water through the valve section.

[hubert]

Thanks a lot, Bloke.
FYI: Already years ago I have taken to heart your lessons on removing lime etc. on a regular basis. It feels like my tubas are happy after every "caressing shower".
Hubert

[shovelingtom]

I had a real problem with slide #2 gathering water for a while in mine. Depressing all the valves and leaning it back about 45° where the mouthpiece leaning towards me gets rid of all the #2 water and a lot of the other build up that gurgles in mine. The only other gurgle I’ve had was in #4 and the only way I’ve been able to get that water out was pulling the upper slides while it was sitting on the bell.

[arpthark]

For my 832, I stole the idea from bloke of putting water keys on the elbows of the valve tubing after exiting the third and fourth valve. The 3rd valve circuit constantly had water accumulate there, not so much for #4. I'm not sure if the layout of the 632 is similar enough to do that, but it eliminated 99% of the water issues I had with my Eastman.

[hubert]

Thanks a lot.
Indeed, I am often doing the "gymnastics" Shovelingtom mentions. But even then....But, there are solutions left, as I understand...
Best,
Hubert

[kingrob76]

Many York-style instruments collect water, particularly in the 3rd and 4th slides at the elbow where it exits the piston. Water keys help but the spin-n-dump method will always be more "complete" when it comes to removal. In a cold room, I collect a LOT of water in my 836 and have learned the fastest and simplest ways to dump all of it as fast possible, but, everyone will do this differently in the way that suits them best. Water keys provide immediate relief when there isn't time to dump properly. In my basement where I practice, I use a small space heater to "pre-heat" my horn so that condensation is minimized. For me, this has been very effective.

[hubert]

Thanks, Kingrob. Have learned a lot from your and previous posts.
Best,
Hubert

[Matt Walters]

Like Rob indicated. The condensation first collects at the knuckles leaving the valve casing. The airflow leaves the depressed valves in this direction:
1st valve - lower knuckle near 2nd slide.
2nd valve - upper knuckle
3rd valve - lower knuckle near 2nd slide
4th valve - upper knuckle going towards the bell.

I tip my tuba to my left with bell down and dump the top pull slides. Takes one whole minute but sometimes two if I'm having a clumsy day.

[hubert]

Thanks a lot, Matt. Very helpful. Now I will manage.

And thanks a lot for the magnificent tuba you designed. Every day a pleasure to play!!!

Hubert
Best from The Netherlands.