Posted by Frederick J. Young on February 11, 2003 at 18:22:19:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "double" tubas posted by TubaRay on February 10, 2003 at 11:08:49:
Tuning is not a problem, however, weight may be too large for some people to handle! On the other hand tubists carry that much extra (and in some cases more) extra weight on their own bodies. Thus, if one wants the advantages of a double tuba, a bit of extra weight is worth it. One should remember that a tuba with only three double valves and one or two switch valves will suffer all the intonation problems of a 4 valve compensating instrument. Five double valves are needed and the interval between the two sides of the tuba must be 6 rather than 5 semitones. If one insists on 5 semitones then a 6th double valve becomes necessary.