Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 5/4+6/4 bore sizes


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Posted by Matt W. on February 20, 2000 at 13:34:31:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: 5/4+6/4 bore sizes posted by smart - - - remark on February 20, 2000 at 10:48:53:


I'm not sure, but I think you are now talking about piston tubas? I was refering to what Gerhardt Meinl himself was telling me in a discussion we had at the store. 4/4 and 5/4 was a concept easy to identify in the days of rotor valve, mostly BBb tubas made in the Bavarian region. It was an easy way to discribe the total internal volume of a tuba. Total internal volume is in fact what we are really talking about when we size a tuba. Times have changed. The Americans made horns with outrageous bell flairs that did not always contain the internal volume proportional to the bell diameter of Bavarian heritage instruments. Especially in the 4/4 and smaller horns. Check out some old Conn tuba ads. Addtionally, the Americans typically used piston valves. Of course the valve set comes sooner in conical taper of the open bugle of the piston horns, so bore is only relevant in relation to the point in the taper ratio where it is measured. Anyway, like the 6/4 Rudy Meinl BBb with it's 22" bell flair, early Holton York, and Conn 6/4 BBb tubas most often had bells with flairs of 22" to 24". Bell flair size formula still worked on SOME American style tubas like that. What if we make a big 6/4 size tuba in CC? The old time orchestral tubist wanted a more focused sound and often asked for a smaller bell flair. So the bell flair only was cut down to 19 7/8". Is it now a 5/4 when the bell and bottom bow typically came off the same mandrels as it's BBb counterpart and the internal volume of those components remains the same? If that is not enough to confuse the issue, the CC is almost 2 feet shorter or check this out, not quite 1/8th shorter. So if you factor in the length to internal volume ratio, CC horns like the Holton 345, Yorkbruner, and Meinl Weston 2165 deserved to be callled 6/4 CC tubas, even though they have only a 19 7/8" bell flair similar to a 5/4 Rudy Meinl CC (RM 50) with it's 19 7/8" bell flair, yet less internal volume.

Translation: I judge a horn ?/4 by the internal volume of the bell and bottom bow. I factor in the key and often find it necessary to use adjectives. An Alexander 163 with it's .807 bore and minimally flaired 16 1/2" bell is "a large bore, medium sized 5/4 CC tuba." It's BBb counter part 163 would be, "a large bore, small 5/4 BBb tuba." A Rudy RM 50 in CC would be, "a large 5/4 CC." A RM 50 in BBb would simply be, "a 5/4 BBb."


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