Posted by Les Smith on March 04, 2002 at 20:21:06:
Any suggestions on what could be causing a tuba to "miss" three notes?
A friend who is an excellent tuba player--easily one of, if not _the_, best in this area--plays a Miraphone tuba that he bought new in 1973. It is a BBb instrument with 4 rotary valves, and it looks to me to be in good shape considering that it is nearly 30 years old. (I'm sorry; I don't have the model number, but the serial number is 8780, if that helps any.) The problem is that several months ago the tuba started giving him problems. Specifically, it does not play three notes: the 1st line G, the 4th-line F# and the 5 line A. They respond sometimes, but most of the time they come out sounding like he is hitting a wrong note.
At this point he has had about three different techs look at it. And in the process of their trying do "do something" about the problem, the valves have been realigned and rebuilt and the entire instrument was flushed. He has tried different mouthpieces with the same result. He has played other instruments with no problems on those three notes.
The location is Gainesville, so if you wish to suggest specific repair personnel with whom he should check, the following cities are all more or less "handy" (i.e., within a half-day's driving distance): Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Daytona Beach, and Valdosta, Georgia.
I'll pass along to him all suggestions coming from this list, and they will be greatly appreciated.
Les Smith