Posted by Ned on April 12, 2001 at 22:59:53:
In Reply to: Tuning of a 1955 Imperial? posted by Bill Schultz on April 12, 2001 at 12:59:27:
I have a B&H Imperial F tuba from around 1954 and it definitely had the same problem when I got it. I first had a special mouthpiece made by Doug Elliot that goes into the lead pipe as far as possible. ( A bass trombone shank that was shaved down further. )
I later also had the second bow cut about 2 inches at Dillon's, so that I wouldn't have to always play with the main slide all the way in. I've been told that this problem is quite common in Besson tubas. The story I heard was that a trumpet player was responsible for testing the tubas off the line and played a lot higher than the rest of us.