Posted by K on August 20, 2003 at 16:54:40:
In Reply to: Finally got the tuba for my son posted by Jim on August 20, 2003 at 14:34:57:
Congratulations on finding an instrument for your son!
The posters saying, that the slide positions should stay as they came out of the box, basically are right. However: even if this instrument is mostly intended for home practise, it might be a good idea to arrange a session, where your sons instructor has a look on the tuba and on the way your son handles it. There can be something about your sons posture. And as your son already has played tuba for some time, the instructor may want to optimise the slide positions.
What is said about the needs to clean Jupiter instruments basically goes for all brass instruments with parts that should be kept moveable. As you for given reasons may be more involved than normal in your sons tuba project, I would suggest, that you contact a competent brass instruments repairman to instruct you how to do the regular basic maintenance. In the longer run that will save you money, and the repairman can concentrate on more complicated tasks. And your sons tuba will work more reliably.
Klaus