Re: Reducing valve noise


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by IG on June 28, 2001 at 10:40:17:

In Reply to: Reducing valve noise posted by Steve on June 28, 2001 at 05:03:00:

I own a CB-50, and I have tried a couple things that have helped.

1. Super glue the springs to the bottom valve cap. This will help, and it will keep your springs in the right spot.

2. I built a set of heavy valve caps, they weigh about a pound each. This made the valves close to completly silent.
I liken this to knocking on a door. A light hollow door does very little to dampen sound, however a solid door will greatly
reduce the sound of a knock. So the heavy valve caps are like the solid door, they dampin the valve noise, a lot!! They also
change the way my horn plays, and I happen to like how it changed my horn playing characteristics as well.

If you want to experiment with weight added to your own horn around the valve section, you can take a sock, and fill it with about
5-10 pounds of lead shot, and then you can set this on your valve casings. The sock will kinda settle inand around the branches of
the slides (warning don't put too much weight, and be careful not to misalign slides with the added weight) Then play your tuba
You should notice a huge difference in valve noise, and maybe you will notice your horn plays different as well.


Follow Ups: