Are old American Eb tubas fixable?

[Bob Kolada]

I've owned several different Americana Eb tubas; some played well, some didn't, some had acceptable intonation, some sounded like an avant garde project. I've had this H.N. White 'medium' (about the size of a 621, the small is tiny) Eb for about a decade. It plays fantastic, clear, colorful sound, good valves, lots of guts, a good low valve register and acceptable false tones.

It also has that wide octave, sharp Eb and D in the staff and a very flat low D. Oddly enough it used to have a flat low Eb. I got ticked at it one day and tried pushing it up and it just snapped right up. I don't know how that happened, my pitch was fine and the other Eb I still have (small Conn) I have no problems with. It also has the standard flat 5th partial, the guy that sold it to me flipped that slide so I can push in for F and E.

Are these intonation issues fixable? The leadpipe is a little funky and there's a small dent in the bottom bow, not sure these are contributing to the issue. I get that lots of the giant size Eb's had weird proportions but this is just a tuba. I've played in a group maybe twice since 2014, I'd like to get on the sub list for my old brass band and this would be just fine there if only I could play it in tune. I'd rather spend a few hundred bucks getting this fixed than several thousand on a tuba, but throwing money into something that won't work isn't exactly an attractive proposition either.

[arpthark]

How does that Eb in the staff manage if you play it 23 instead of open? Likewise, how is D as 13? (a familiar fingering to those of us who may have had squirrelly C tubas that required a 13 D in the staff... looking at you, Alexander 163.)

I get annoyed with alternate fingerings like that, but if it's in tune...

I wonder if on the low D you could cut the second valve and add a push-in trigger so that you could leave it out for the normal length for other pitches and press the trigger to push in to bring the D up to pitch. How many cents flat is the discrepancy?

[bloke]

tubas in general (not just old large USA made E-flats, or - same problems - oversize modern-era piston F tubas)

I'm willing to do 3 instead of 12, 13 instead of 4 (after all, 4 is actually a SUBSTITUTE for 13), I'll move the #1 slide up to 1-1/2 inches - perhaps 2", and MIGHT be willing to consider 12 instead of "no valves" for open 5th partial, but I'm getting more-and-more picky, and selling fine stuff and replacing it with superb stuff.

Moving the 3rd, 4th, or 5th slides are non-starters (for me). If there's a #2 slide trigger (on a 5 valve tuba) I really only want to be forced to use it for the very low 5-2-3-4 pitch.

[2nd tenor]

Fixable? I don’t know but:

# Go along to the band and play with what you have, in practise being there and contributing is more important than being perfectly in tune.
# You might know that some notes aren’t perfectly in tune but they might also be tolerable to or unnoticed by the conductor and other players.
# Look at alternate fingerings.
# Check out different mouthpieces - borrow and trial what you can - sometimes a Tuba works better with a different mouthpiece.
# Tubas can be expensive, but just sometimes you get a lucky break.
# What you have sounds like as good an example as any of a reasonable three valve Eb Bass, enjoy it and enjoy it in a group setting.
# You also have a small Conn, use that in Band too.
# Check out who the Band members use to repair their instruments, it may be that repairs / improvements can be done for a figure that’s within your comfort zone to risk / loose.
# To an extent the real question is how well did / do models of your Tuba play when in perfect condition? Maybe the guy who does (vintage) Tuba Tuesday here might know.

http://www.hnwhite.com/Low%20Brass.htm

[LargeTuba]

More valves, and maybe a better leadpipe.

More valves isn’t fixing anything, just giving more options to fix deficiencies.

[cjk]

I've noticed that a "For Sale" sign seems to fix a lot of intonation problems.