Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: shaping spatulas


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on April 05, 2001 at 10:33:10:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: shaping spatulas posted by Chuck(G) on April 04, 2001 at 21:12:48:

Chuck, to achieve what you say, the pivot point should be as close as possible to the pivot point on the hand. The problem is that the hand uses more than one pivot point. Sure, the main one is the first knuckle, but the second knuckle also pivots for some, and others play with straight fingers. I do both at one time or another. And the use of a thumb key for the fifth valve changes the position and shape of the hand, which moves those pivot point around. Sometimes I move my hand around to change the position to provide better access to the valves in a way that is less comfortable but necessary for certain passages that use a lot of fourth valve.

Our fingers are accustomed to pivoting multiple joints even in opposite directions to achieve straight line operation at the tips of our fingers. Handwriting would be impossible without this skill.

My concern would be that putting the pivot close to the first knuckle might interfere with the hands of many players. I personally hate some top-action tubas that have a bar in the wrong place for my hand, and the ones I hate the most are those with the bar too far from the valves, right about where you want the pivot point. Also, moving the pivot point to the other side of the spatulas would change the direction of the linkage, which could be corrected by reversing the direction of the stop arm on the rotor, not necessarily a trivial operation. And the bottom of the linkage would likely interfere with the bell stack. These could be resolved in designing a new tuba, but it would make a retrofit tricky.

Rick "who loves thinking about non-existent problems" Denney


Follow Ups: