Posted by Jay Bertolet on April 15, 1999 at 18:54:41:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No decent New F tubas on the market (me out-of-step? too picky?) posted by Sean Chisham on April 15, 1999 at 16:07:42:
That's exactly my point! Modern technology has had a negligible effect on the best quality tubas. What more is a Yorkbrunner than a copy of Jake's York with better valves? Does it even play as good? I haven't had the pleasure of trying the legendary York out but I'm willing to bet that even the finest of the Hirsbrunner replicas can't hold a candle to it. If they could, I bet there would be no need for the Nirschl line, or any of the others trying to make similar copies. Eventually, someone is going to hit paydirt and come across the right combination of design characteristics to successfully duplicate the legendary York. At that point, modern production techniques will bring the most substantial improvement we've made in years to the table and perhaps remove the element of chance from the production of these instruments while keeping costs down. I just find it ironic that after all these years, and all that science has discovered, the best improvement we can make to a tuba made in the early 1900's is to improve the mechanical action of the valves and maybe make them a little more dependable and durable. It staggers my mind to think of all the knowledge that was lost when the York factory closed and the mandrills used to make the tubas lost. It was a dark day, indeed, for our profession.