Tuba Tuning Guide - New Tuba Setup

[tubanews]

I know someone here is an expert on this. Is there a system for setting up the tuning slides on a new tuba? With a tuner of course!

[humBell]

Courtesy of York-aholic when i tried to remember where i'd seen one in another thread:

https://sites.uni.edu/drfun/articles/tuning.html

[bloke]

I posted my system (scrubbed?) at the "other" place...which will have been deleted (unless quoted).

Surprisingly, it was LV- (a curmudgeon, but a nice curmudgeon, yes? ) -approved.

If it was quoted...(??), someone (still registered, there) might be able to find it by searching "bloke tuning" or something like that.

A truncated version is below:

> Warm up the instrument, but warm it up LESS - if you typically play in symphony orchestras (because a large percentage of that type of playing is executed somewhat "cold", UNLESS - obviously - it's a "pops" concert).
> Set the main slide so as no open pitches are much sharper than others are flat...ie...everything is roughly equidistant from "perfect".
> If you're like me (and lipping UP is easier than lipping DOWN) if there are sharp open pitches, let them be "less sharp" and let the flat pitches be "more flat". The pitch is going to RISE when you play LOUD, warm up the tuba more, or (due to percussion) when can't hear yourself.
> tune valves 1 and 2 (independently) the same way.
> go back and look at the tuning of 1-and-2 together, and make additional decisions.
> tune valve 3 with valve 2 also depressed, and then check any 3rd valve alternates that seem superior to 1-2 pitches.
> tune 4 for its two pitches, compromising, as the upper one is often flatter than the lower one. If only a 4-valve tuba, you're going to need to tune 4 FLAT and tune 2-4 equally SHARP - as a necessary compromise (unless you're into #4 slide-yanking).
> tune 5 mostly for the 5-4 pitch, but tempering it with the lower 5-2-3 pitch (which you're also likely to be using). Other 5th valve pitches will-or-will-not require adjustments. With little doubt, 5-2-3-4 is going to require some frantic/epic pull of some slide for good pitch.
> If in doubt, pull the main slide OUT more, and tune (where you perceive the pitch to be a bit) FLAT. Pianos sound better with THEIR low range tuned flat (and we play our tubas WITH pianos and electronic piano-tuned keyboards QUITE often), and (again) the overwhelming tendency is to play brass instruments sharp.
> Continue to re-evaluate, and realize - in the summer (if you allow your house to be 80 degrees) - that pitch will be "through the roof" and - in the winter (if you allow your house to be 60 degrees) that pitch will be "in the cellar"...but BOTH will tend to regulate (even without turning up the air conditioner or heater) once you've been blowing your OWN 100-degree air through the instrument for a few minutes, and holding the instrument up to your body.
> Always LISTEN. Tubas are just about as naturally in-tune - typically - as toy pianos. THAT HAVING BEEN SAID, don't make drastic changes (certainly at a rehearsal or performance) based on a perceived clunker, as that clunker may well have been someone's ELSE clunker. If - like me - your pitch sucks...but you work VERY DILIGENTLY at "tuning" (during individual practice) you might (??) eventually overhear people complimenting your playing...and (whether they realize it or not) they're probably complimenting your better-than-most-others' TUNING...as "really good tuba pitch" makes THEIR treble clef chords "ring"...and they REALLY like it when that happens.

[matt g]

An aside that I find interesting but likely no one else:

On my 2165, there is no pull on second valve (I’ve owned maybe one tuba where 1/8” of pull was needed?), about 3/4” on first valve is “neutral” (this is a recurrent theme for many horns I’ve owned), but the weird part is my 3rd valve is about 1” of pull and 4th is about 1/2” of pull for their “neutral” spots. Typically the slides kinda scale but on this horn, 4th is nearly “too long” for what I’d call fingering patterns. However, 3rd is setup to be the primary for notes like E and A. E below the staff seems better 3rd only.

I remember my 188 where I set it up with fourth pulled kinda flat and played it like a three valve tuba for everything above low G. The 5th valve was the two-whole-step setup.

My other current CC is pretty typical for valves 2, 3, 4, and 5. Once setup, I only need to access 1 and 4. Db works really well 5-2-3 on that horn, but not Gb. That’s better 2-4. Whatever.

Different horns, different fingerings. It’s been that way forever.

[humBell]

Thanks @bloke for posting that!

It was in fact my complainin' i'd seen your post back when you posted it on the old forum, but lost track of it before i could try my hand at it which caused York-aholic to share the Funderburk link.

[bloke]

JB found the old one over at the old place in a quote, and private messaged it to me. That was very nice of him. It wasn’t much different, though.

[iiipopes]

It's more fun to set up an older BBb 3-valve (non-comp) tuba:
1) Warm up and split the difference between the octaves and open fifth.
2) Tune 1 slightly flat
3) Tune 2 slightly flat
4) Check 1+2 to be slightly sharp but lippable, and adjust 1 & 2 accordingly if it is too sharp, splitting the difference with each valve by itself being slightly flat
5) Tune 2+3 flat by pulling 3
6) Tune 1+3 slightly sharp, lippable down by adjustment of #3, splitting the difference with how flat 2+3 is.
7) Avoid 1+2+3 at all costs (hey - it's only two notes!)
8) Pull the main tuning slide @ 5/8 inch and leave it there, no matter what the rest of the band does or the temperature.
9) Buy a mouthpiece, like a Conn Helleberg, that has WIDE slots.
10) If you feel you must play in tune, play using the embouchure. Don't rely on the valves. On some 3-valve tubas, especially if they are worn, valves are almost elective, especially low in the range. You don't want to move the valve slides so often (assuming you can even reach them - that leaves out top-valve tubas, of course) that it looks unseemly, the audience thinking you are getting away with something on the back row.