Posted by dp on February 02, 2003 at 13:33:16:
In Reply to: Is Gronitz PCK a BAT as we know them? posted by MrT on February 02, 2003 at 09:53:40:
While the PCK is designated by its maker as a Kaiser tuba (thats what the K in PCK stands for), you'd understand it to be a 6/4 tuba if you saw it or played one. It's impossible to second-guess what was told you by whoever, perhaps you should ask them what they meant?
The PCK is very much what I prefer to call a "Grand Orchestral" horn. I'll also say it is NOT what I'd refer to as a "5/4" horn. Low BrassWerks is the dealer for Gronitz here in California and they'd be a good resource for your questions, especially since the only new PCKs built in the last 2 or three years that came to the U.S. came through that dealer!
With Grand Orchestral tubas (Yorkbrunners, MW 2165, PT7P, Holton 345s, etc), an inch one way or t'other (despite what your male ego tells you) isn't a big difference. I have a Holton CC that is an inch or so bigger than my teacher's old Yorkbrunner. I think it'd be just silly to call IT a "7/4" horn....perhaps it'd be better to say MY horn is a TRUE "6/4" and the Yorkbrunners are in reality "5/4" ...or more accurately "11/8"?
Perhaps we/I should just try to get over the labeling, since we don't have any sort of universal agreements on what the labels mean, it is silly to try to use those labels to make distinctions when those labels mean different things to different people.
f.w.i.w.
Dale Phelps
Los Gatos California USA