Well, to be basic, God created the ability to make sound. You have 120 years to figure out how He did it. Then by that time, after you figured it out, you'd probably forget why you were wondering about it in the first place, forget why you were searching for that and your time would be up . The next ...

Your lung capacity and speed and volume of air, the size and shape of your oral cavity, factors in, mainly. Also , another silly unrelated question, which created much discussion amongst my 5th graders- do you open your mouth before or after you eat the cake

That's ok. You are a tubaist of the highest calibur.

Tell me more, of course

I have a 190 miraphone kaiser Bb. I'm using a Stofer Geib and a PT50. I also have a Bach 12 mega too. I'm leaning towards the Stofer and PT50, but would like to try the PT88 on this horn. When I had the Piggy the PT50 was great, but artpark has it ( mutual trade, long story) and loves the Bloke ...

Trade Bach 7 mega for PT 88 American shank

Vale= valve. Fat finger, arthritis syndrome at work here.

If you do not have the ring on the end of the 2nd vale slide, this design will notbwork for your tuba

On this set-up, no soldering is needed. You have to make the second valve slide move like a trombone slide, however. Then the spring I installed ( see picture) will be sufficient to return the 2nd valve slide to the original position.

Hey,
BTW, that 190 mira Bb is very good. Thanks Blake! Glad you like the Piggy! Maybe when I'm older in my 80's ( 70's now) I may trade to a smaller Bb or nice F tuba. Who knows? Groups I'm playing in now love the Mira 190! Brent

Hi, I'm the one who made the kicker. Got the parts from a hardware store. Cost $40-60. Cheaper than $1500 from a professional repair guy, works just as good, but not as pretty, of course. As one famous and well known repair guy said to me after seeing it in action at a Army tuba conference recently ...

1.5 hrs? You could drive across Atlanta, from stone mountain to marietta,
east to westside across atlanta or
north to south, etc in that time! But of course there's:
Construction
Accidents
Badly placed exit signs in certain places on 285
Sunny days or rainy days cause slow downs

I'm also going to put my inexpensive 2nd valve slide kicker on this 190 like I did on the traded Piggy.

Ok, tried the Bach 7 mega...still like the Stofer Geib.
Thanks Lee!

Ok... If.. you are playing a 190 miraphone Bb, a 5/4 Rudy Bb or Cc.. a Stofer Geib is the way to go. Better than a Bach 12 mega, better then a PT50. At least, that's what I found , on my recently acquired/ traded 190 Bb for a piggy c. I'm waiting on a Bach 7 mega in the usps mail. I'll let you all ...

ok... I'm going install my 2nd valve slide kicker afterall. To play 2&4 b natural I have to pull slide out much further than I did on the Piggy. Oh well. I'll send pics of it later.
Brent

Sorry, only works on 190 miraphone situation. You must figure out if it works for your tuba. Have fun! Don't worry! Tell your wife/ S.O. it's worth it!

Forgot to add: With 1st & 3rd valve slides reversed you can play low b natural in tune using 123. No need to go out and buy $40 worth of plumbing parts and making 2nd valve slide " like a trombone slide". Of course, you will have to experiment and figure this out for yourself. A challenge, isn't it ...

BTW, just figured this out on the 190 Bb. There is a diffrence in slide length between the 1st and third valve slides, but same slide bore. Reverse the slides- 1st slide in 3rd valve spot and 3rd slide in 1st spot. Now you can pull the slide that's in 3rd valve out to play b natural in tune without ...

Same here!