Posted by Matt Walters on October 27, 2001 at 05:00:54:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Taper and intonation posted by Ken Herrick on October 27, 2001 at 03:20:13:
Hey Ken,
My own experiments have led me to a conclusion similar to Walter Lawson's (makes custom French Horns) conclusion. Since the French horn is the same length as a F tuba and most other tubas are longer still, I believe it is a more accurate model than a trumpet when compared against the tuba.
The leadpipe seems to have minimal to no effect on the true intonation of a tuba. However, it seems to greatly affect how the player interacts with the horn and therefore plays it more or less in-tune.
To compensate for taper ratio problems in the larger branches of the tuba, you would need to make a leadpipe that gets larger and smaller at various points while still controling the general taper from the receiver to valve section, that gives the player the response he or she likes.
I think of the leadpipe as something like a carb. or fuel injection system. Yeah, you can trade horse power for efficiency. You can make a leadpipe that lets a player work harder but lip more notes in-tune ( Great musicians often don't realize how much they are lipping in-tune.) or you can use a more efficient leadpipe that slots the notes better (Therefore requiring less embrochure control and fatigue.) yet reveals more of the true intonation tendencies of the horn.
This is why we should all take it with a grain of salt when John Q. "Principal tubist from Mudwater College", a top professional, or one of us working at a tuba store says a tuba is in-tune or out of tune. You may play differently and therefore have different intonation tendencies. My customers see it all the time. The perefect horn for one person is seldom the perfect horn for another.
Matt Walters