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bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 8:51 am All of which leads me to question what my long term plans are. The Rudy 5/4, which I got to use for band playing (orchestra was never on the radar at the time of purchase), is certain to be too much for this group, or at least would require great control to finesse it for a <50 piece orchestra.
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188?

If I want one tuba for everything, the 188 would be it.

But I want to keep the Rudy for a while, so something smaller (or at least less expensive) than the 188 may be better.

The right way to raise the pitch is to remove the slide receiver legs, shorten them on the solder end, and reinstall them. That avoids messing up the way the slide outer tubes are dressed. These days, outer tubes are left plain and careful use of a jeweler’s fret saw plus a broach to clean up the burr is easier. Even then, most would want to remove the tube so they could square up the cut on a belt sander.

There is, of course, the story of Arnold Jacobs complaining to his friend Renold Schilke that he was having to work hard to bring his York up to the orchestra’s pitch standard. Schilke reportedly reached into his locker, pulled out a hacksaw, and fixed the problem the way real men do.

In my old age it’s hard for my pinky not to want to play along, despite that I can still drum out half a dozen scales in three-valve fingerings. The answer: scales, scales, and more scales.

Rick “Option 2: respect the instrument” Denney