Posted by dork on October 01, 2002 at 21:43:57:
In Reply to: Old F Tubas vs. New F Tubas posted by Non-Physicist on October 01, 2002 at 21:09:29:
Most of the tubas that play easily below the staff with a flabby embouchure have other problems as trade-offs. An example of an "old" F tuba that played easily just below the staff with a flabby embouchure was the small Besson compensating F. The Besson was fairly similar to the small Yamaha F (Actually, the Besson was even smaller than the small Yamaha). Those Besson F tubas had some goofy pitch problems that would remind one of an old Conn or Holton EEb (flat 2nd and 8th partials).
Granted, many "old" F tubas have both the narrow-slotting range below the staff and many other problems.
Any tweaking would surely remind one of the old adage of "putting it up on the lift and running another one under it".