Posted by slidemon on June 30, 2002 at 16:45:01:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Tuning slides v. trombone slides posted by Doug on June 30, 2002 at 14:24:28:
Doug,
Even the most expensive tubas have tuning slides (which could be used for tuning-on-the-fly) with goofy alignment and poor lapping, often rendering them relatively useless.
Most tubas' valvesets are made relatively quickly, as proper alignment and lapping might take twice as long. That's one reason why Matt Walters, when he cuts down an instrument that ends up playing particularly nicely, wants a decent price. His slides are aligned and lapped much more nicely than even $12000 tubas, and that obviously takes a lot of extra time.
That's the most discouraging thing to me about "building" my own tubas. I'm a perfectionist, and it takes me weeks (in between work I'm obligated to do) to build a proper valveset.
"Factory" tubas with 10 or more extra hours spent assembling their valvesets would be just like you are looking for - with or without "stocking" ends on the inside tubes.