Posted by Lee Stofer on October 03, 2002 at 07:57:27:
In Reply to: Does anyone know posted by wondering on October 02, 2002 at 22:56:23:
It is a simple matter of tubing lay-out. On a piccolo trumpet, the leadpipe goes into 1st, because there is less tubing. The designer needs to place a particular-bore valve set at a particular point in the taper of the instument, and the trumpet player needs to be able to conveniently hold and play the instrument, therefore the wrap has become standard on them, with the leadpipe going into 3rd valve casing. Tubas are by no means as standardized as trumpets, so we have all sorts of variations. The bore size varies widely on our instruments, so they can range from very conservative, to looking like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Most Italian tubas I've seen have a very long leadpipe that goes into the last valve first, and I have no conclusive evidence whether that works better or worse.
Lee Stofer