Kurath F — Reimagined 6th Slide

[Sousaswag]

That thumb ring. What a beast!!!

This is probably going to be the best version of this model F tuba, like, ever. Can’t wait to see the final result!

[the elephant]

Well! This turned out better than I had hoped!

Fingering Chart (needed pitch corrections)

High Octave
High F is still hard to nail on this tuba, but now it is not sharp AF…

Middle Octave
Gb/F# top of staff = 5th (12 can still be used, but I have to push in on 1st, and 5th is bang on with the tuner for me with this mouthpiece.)

Low Octave
G bottom line = 13
C two ledger lines = 4
B = 46
Bb = 45
A = 456
Ab = 134 (out of the descending pattern)
G = 1234 (slide retuning allows this to work)
Gb/F# = 3456
F = 13456 (the "Sellmansberger Secret F" — all six will not get a Secret E, though…)

Pedal Octave
C = 13
Bb = 14

If I use these fingerings, I do not have to move a single slide, ever. The low range is fuller and less piggish. I think the leak I found was making the 5th range quack a bit. It is much easier to hit notes solidly down there now.

This tuba is now every bit as good as the Adams. It is just a lot bigger. I am not sure which one I will keep. In quintet I only play F, and we frequently have a set drummer. I have to be able to knock out low, walking basslines while still being able to play all the Rennaissance stuff (frequently high and delicate) where I have to pretend to be playing an instrument I don't have.

Because bigness on a small instrument is more difficult for me than smallness on a large instrument I think the Kurath will eventually win out. But I want to take another year to decide — because the Adams is *really* good…

I have some upcoming performances for which I had planned to use the Adams, but now I'm not so sure.

Regardless, this is going to be a fun problem to work through. I'm a fortunate guy, on occasion…

Ah, sweet mayhem…


Awaiting a thorough cleanup job to all the solder work…

[the elephant]

[bloke]

Congrats on everything wiggling.

I'm a little bit surprised that 5634 doesn't give you a good low G, but all tubas are different.

You must have something built longer than what I have, because - for me to play low F on the second partial - I have to mash all six and trigger #5 out several inches, so that probably explains why 5634 isn't a G.

[the elephant]

Worked with a tuner for a couple of hours today and ended up rebuilding the 2nd slide. Everything was really close, but with a tuner, the truth emerges…

So played a lot of stuff from my last recital. I edited a lot of my piano parts ( or simply made my own edition of entire works) and I then created playback files of the accompaniments to make "metronomes" with which I could work on intonation. I took out the piece I had the most difficulty playing on this specific tuba, and after some slide adjustment… it was pretty much a breeze to play in tune.

I still have to adjust the 6th slide. However, my math was more accurate and it looks like I may not have to adjust it at all. I might trim a quarter of an inch off each inner leg so that I can push in if ever needed.

Both the 2nd and 6th slide outer legs are still too short. I can fix the 6th but am out of the tubing needed for the 2nd.

Also, I think I need to trim 3rd by .5" per side, but have not really decided where I want the slide to live. Right now, all my 23 stuff is flat unless 3 is in all the way. I do not like playing with slides all the way in. I will not trim the 3rd slide until I have been playing this with people for a while.

Man, compared with the Adams this horn is a heavy beast up there with my Holton 345. Yikes!

Anyway, this thread was about my final installation of a 6th valve and my lever solution, and that has been documented to death, so this thread is done.

Thanks for reading.