Posted by Joe S. on April 30, 2001 at 00:18:25:
In Reply to: tuba strap ideas or products? posted by Tim Whittemore on April 29, 2001 at 23:45:43:
You should have two VERY heavy duty strap rings fab-ed up and soldered to the back of your tuba (so as to define a diagonal), if you want something reliable. I put two on a York EEb that I used to use standing up, and really spent some time thinking out just how I wanted the instrument to rest against my body and how I wanted to mouthpiece to hit my face. Once I had it just right, the heavy-duty strap crossing my back and fastening into the two strap rings was really "deluxe" as far as fit, etc.
Some people only locate ONE strap ring on the bottom back side of the bottom bow and use a baritone sax harness, or the like. (You can probably find a picture of one of these on the web somewhere.) I don't recommend that solution, because too much hand strength will have to be devoted to holding the tuba upright and it will interfere with your finger manipulation of the valves.