Posted by Rick Denney on August 29, 2001 at 14:04:34:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Yes, they do have an effect... posted by Chuck(G) on August 29, 2001 at 12:57:51:
I'd be happy with a few accelerometers to measure vibration, and an expert to interpret the results. Neither are available to me! So speculation is my only tool.
More bracing may or may not do the job. I don't think the objective is to increase stiffness willy-nilly, which is what added bracing would do, but to decrease resonance at what empirically seems to be the effective spot--the valves. But we don't really know. It is entirely likely that something like Monsterweights would be useful on one sort of horn and damaging on another sort. I'm not at all tempted to put them on the York, for example--it slots if anything too well as it is and that sort of power isn't really what I want from that tuba.
Heavier tubing might have a similar effect and might not--I don't know. Maybe what we want for some rotary tubas is a heavy weight suspended on lighter tubing, which is what we have here. Without really understanding the mechanism, we cannot extrapolate results. That they add power to my Miraphone is empirically true. That they would add power to, say, an Alexander (or a tuba with greater difference) does not follow. But they have been shown to provide these same results on Miraphones, Yamaha (641 rotary), Cerveny Piggy, and, partially, on a Conn 52J. And the results reported vary in detail but not in general character. More experience may reveal an empirical trend that defies analysis.
Measurements would need a standardized sound source at the mouthpiece, which is the one thing we don't have (except for the transducer from that German company that maps intonation characteristics).
Rick "POWER OUT! posting now before the UPS's die" Denney