Posted by Rick Denney on July 03, 2000 at 09:00:41:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 4/4, 5/4, Monster! posted by John Swensen on July 01, 2000 at 16:53:06:
Okay, I'll try an experiment. I'm in the process of acquiring a new instrument (at least, new to me). When I get it, I'll measure it up along with my Miraphone 186. We'll call the 186 the "standard" BBb 4/4 tuba. I'll even measure up my two F tubas and see how they compared.
Measuring along the centerline of the tube should be fairly straightforward. Just run a measuring tape (the cloth tape used by tailors would be easier to work with) along the highest surface while the horn is laying down. And I'd imagine that oval tubes would not change the answer significantly. I'll measure circumference when I do my experiment instead of diameter, which will weed out some ovalness.
I'll supplement my experiment by measuring one horn three times, to assess the measurement variability. Remember that we are trying to measure for categorizing a horn into one of four categories (3/4, 4/4, 5/4, or 6/4). Two significant figures are at the high end of reportable accuracy.
There's a good scam in all this. I'll offer to measure, as an independent "lab", the volumes of all tubas. All the manufacturers have to do is, ah, supply me with a test instrument. I figure that each measurement will take, um, about a year. Maybe longer.
Rick "Send me your Grand Orchestral" Denney