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Didn’t mean to post this twice and don’t know how to delete the other one.

Sorry

Is it bungie cord (ie stretches) or just black cord to make sure he doesn’t go past the point of no return?

York-aholic wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 10:03 pm Is it bungie cord (ie stretches) or just black cord to make sure he doesn’t go past the point of no return?

I’m pretty sure it’s a bungee cord. You can see this guys one bringing his slide back down. Happens at 0:24 on his his third valve slide[Edit]- it’s actually his 4th slide. https://youtu.be/XLiE_djbVOY
But could also just be a very lubricated slide.

They look like the very well adjusted slides (with non-elastic cords). When he lets one go, it falls back down into place. I have slides that move like trumpet slides!

greenbean wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 10:54 pm They look like the very well adjusted slides (with non-elastic cords). When he lets one go, it falls back down into place. I have slides that move like trumpet slides!

That may be what they are. Just thought I’d ask the question since I’ve seen a lot of players using them and could never find any where you could get the straps.

Just shoe strings secured with a strip of hook and loop fastener (Velcro) around the tubes. Gravity is pulling the slides back down.

I do not see either of them fully straightening the cords at any point, so what makes you think they are stretchy if they never get stretched? To me they appear to always be under no tension.

These are slide stops made using 1/8" paracord. Measure and cut what you need, and tie it so that your slide comes out to the maximum pull you need.

Very well aligned slides with flawless tubing (with no tiny flattened spots or tiny dings) take only two fingertips and very little pressure to move; they work like a trombone slide. A slide stop prevent you from pulling the slide out by accident while playing because you cannot reinstall it without completely stopping what you are doing. (This has happened to me in live performances and it is bad enough that I installed a paracord slide stop that night when I got home. Very unnerving!)

Also, with slides aligned like this, if you set the horn on its bells they will sometimes fall out and hit the floor.

Slide stops are not used to pull a slide back in, only to prevent them from coming out. I have used paracord (or once in a pinch just string). If it is a real problem with a particular horn I will install a proper one like on a Bach trumpet 3rd slide, with rubber bumpers to prevent any clicking, and a quick release so that I can remove the slide without using tools (or in the paracord situation, untying and unwrapping the cord).

Wade

Vincent Bach considered putting shoestrings on the #3 slides on his trumpets, but was convinced it would be too expensive, so he retreated to stop rods and locknuts.

@EthanMGeary, the Melton/Meinl Weston 6450 (Baer) comes with these stock:

https://www.melton-meinl-weston.com/en/ ... 6450-baer/

The second photo shows enough detail so that you can see a nice implementation of the concept. There is a nub on the ferrule of the slide crook that a little leather slit pops onto. That’s tied into some sturdy nylon cord that is then pulled through what is basically a thumb screw lyre holder on the outer slide. That allows for the catch point of the string to be set for whatever purpose.

It’s a nice way to control the loose slides that @the elephant describes above without having rods and set screws. The primary issue I have with rods and set screws on a tuba is that they will tend to resonate sympathetically and be annoying (but this usually isn’t heard out front). The threaded rods can also be easily bent without careful handling.

My Dillon/Walters CC has slides that are in perfect alignment and move very easily. So much so that I thicken up the mix a bit on the first valve just so that it holds. I wish my MW2165 slides were even in the neighborhood of this level of accuracy and precision.

matt g wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:33 amThe primary issue I have with rods and set screws on a tuba is that they will tend to resonate sympathetically and be annoying (but this usually isn’t heard out front). The threaded rods can also be easily bent without careful handling.

I use brass rod and only thread the part that has to hold the lock nuts. I then use a rubbery shrink-wrap on the rod. Zero noise. ;-)

I use the lock-post, through-post, and a pair of lock nuts for Bach trumpets with an appropriately-sized brass rod. I only thread the length needed to lock down the two nuts. I put a Buna-N O ring on the nut that contact the stop post. I then pull the slide to the max that I will need and cut the rod at the lock-post. After that I shrink-wrap the rod. No noise. No "adjustability". Just a custom fit slide stop. I usually remove the hex-headed set screw and replace it with a knurled thumb screw so I can very quickly remove the rod and dump the slide if I can't get the water out any other way.

I no longer have horns that need a slide stop and I have learned to install water keys where they are needed to avoid having to pull slides or spin the tuba. But, if a metal slide stop is desired, this is a good way to make one.

EDIT: Idiot Wade forgot to post the photo despite having uploaded it to his photo hosting service account and copying the link. I guess I got *distracted*…

Here it is. You can clearly see that the two posts and the nuts are Bach trumpet slide stop posts. (Sorry, Matt.)

matt g wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 9:33 am @EthanMGeary, the Melton/Meinl Weston 6450 (Baer) comes with these stock:

https://www.melton-meinl-weston.com/en/ ... 6450-baer/

The second photo shows enough detail so that you can see a nice implementation of the concept. There is a nub on the ferrule of the slide crook that a little leather slit pops onto. That’s tied into some sturdy nylon cord that is then pulled through what is basically a thumb screw lyre holder on the outer slide. That allows for the catch point of the string to be set for whatever purpose.

It’s a nice way to control the loose slides that @the elephant describes above without having rods and set screws. The primary issue I have with rods and set screws on a tuba is that they will tend to resonate sympathetically and be annoying (but this usually isn’t heard out front). The threaded rods can also be easily bent without careful handling.

My Dillon/Walters CC has slides that are in perfect alignment and move very easily. So much so that I thicken up the mix a bit on the first valve just so that it holds. I wish my MW2165 slides were even in the neighborhood of this level of accuracy and precision.

The 56AFT had one on the 4th slide, and it worked well. Easy to adjust.

My long-ago-installed stop rod on my F tuba's 5th slide features shrink tubing - as described by Wade. One either end are small-diameter O-rings, which mute the "landing" sound to no more than that of a rotor being depressed on a well-adjusted instrument.

People look at me enough (because I'm weird).
I don't like being looked at for spinning a gigantic instrument in circles, nor for clanking huge U-shaped tubes, nor for loud clicking noises, and (hopefully, I review the sheet music enough to avoid this) nor for musical misfires.

email him and ask him, he is a great guy.

In the past, I used those Bach #3 trumpet slide things every time I installed a slide stop...but it eventually dawned on me that I have a HUGE drawer of saxophone post "blanks" (picked up in a scrapyard in Elkhart - back when they used to make saxes, there)...so - instead of the whole Bach thing - I can drill and thread them to my own liking...and they're one-piece cast, so they're really tough. M3 X .5 tuba carriage rod stop nuts (mostly-cylindrical flat-ended JP ones - that look a lot like B&S ones) look pretty good mounted on the ends of those 3mm rods.

I've found that drilling a 4mm hole through the "guide" post allows a 3mm rod to pass through and - as long as the 3mm rod is reasonably straight and centered - there's nearly a half millimeter of "slop" all the way around, so no drag, and (so far...??) those that are only a few inches long have not vibrated. The LONG one on my F tuba's 5th slide (coated with shrink tubing) tended to vibrate, but maybe (??) If I had barely trimmed of some of it (de-tuning it...??), a couple of particular pitches wouldn't have triggered it...(??)

The "supporting" post - simply, has a 3mm thread in it, I thread some 3mm "smooth" steel rod about 1/4" and screw it down "hard" (via grabbing on to one of the knurled nuts threaded on to the other end) against that post.

...dime-store magnifiers (reading glasses), a lightweight 18V drill, a mark made with a punch, a pair of those small woodwind pliers with little "C"-shapes in their jaws (to grab firmly on to the post), a steady hand, and a discriminating eye TCB...no machine work required. It IS nice to call Mrs. bloke out of her woodwind workroom, though, so I can sight left/right while she sights up/down (during the hand-drilling). It may sound "hillbilly", but it works VERY well, and is much quicker than setting up one of those goofy-shaped sax posts in some fixture.

I could have rambled just as much about black shoelaces, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows were to find those, and how to "install" them.