Posted by Rick Denney on February 03, 2004 at 10:54:42:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: thumb addicts posted by chap on February 02, 2004 at 20:06:23:
I suppose it depends on the frequency of the notes in the literature I see. I see a Bb about as often as all the notes below it combined when I play F tuba. If there are a lot of notes down there, I'm usually playing BBb tuba anyway.
The A on my Yamaha is perfect with 2-3-4, and the Ab (also common) is fine at 3-4-5. The G is workable with 2-3-4-5. The Gb is a problem needing a fixit, to be sure. And there is no valved equivalent to the pedal F. If you only have five, you can set them up to work pretty well, depending on the instrument, of course. But I take the point that some instruments will entail more compromises than others. The Yamaha is pretty good with this setup, but I'm still working it out with the B&S, and may decide that instrument could really use a sixth. I've already decided that the B&S is different, so the needs of individual instruments weigh more heavily than general discussions.
Rick "for whom this is not the most serious intonation problem, heh, heh" Denney