Posted by Rick Denney on February 18, 2000 at 16:39:55:
In Reply to: Re: Mutes: A different opinion posted by Jay Bertolet on February 18, 2000 at 10:10:55:
Bevan has a picture of Rex Conner using what looks sort-of like a Harmon mute. It is conspicuous in the extreme. And chiropractors would salivate looking at that picture. Placement and removal would require two servants to effect without noisy disaster.
But the award for conspicuity would have to go to the use of a wah-wah mute. The world's largest toilet plunger!
I suspect the big problem with mutes for tubas is that mute makers have no typical bell size and shape to build to. I'd bet that with the except of 4/4 Mirafones, the orders for tuba mutes would have to be filled one at a time, with not insignificant tweaking on the horn, or, more likely, one or two mutes have to be adapted, with mixed results, to the horn at hand. Lee Hipp required three layers of cork on his Appeson mute to fit in his Alex.
And making them look like something more than liberated dumpster-fodder from behind a hardware store would increase the cost substantially.
Are the Humes and Berg mutes that good, or is it that the look like they were built on purpose and not as a ninth-grade shop project?
By the way, when I have to use a mute on stage (it's happened twice), I bring a soft bath mat to lay it on. It's quiet, t keeps it from rolling around, and saves me from excessive gyration when putting it on the floor.