Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hand bruising due to playing euphonium?


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Posted by Ken Herrick on June 04, 2002 at 22:22:33:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hand bruising due to playing euphonium? posted by Doug on June 04, 2002 at 21:19:34:

I think I know what you are getting at. The first consideration which pops to mind is balance - though this should not be an insurmountable problem. The second point would be the lead pipe configuration with a sharp bend needed, early, to direct it downward to the valve set unless a far longer pipe than is usually used were to be incorporated. Some good ole lateral thinking might lead to a solution. All this of course pre-supposes that we are trying to stay close to the current accepted norms for the overall shape of our instruments. Front action valves are probably easier to modify placement relative to the "body".

Going beyond tubas and euphoniums, It seems to me that instrument manufacturers could, in general terms, use a good kick to get them thinking about the design of instruments generally and in particular for making instruments suitable to young players. Most of the repair work I get is made necessary due to instruments just not being suitable for young players resulting in them being dropped etc. Even a flute is an absolute ergonomic nightmare, especially for a young, physically small player. Clarinet isn't much better, having a sax hung around your neck with a strap is pretty awful.

Back to tubas, on this line, I often think the best thing for a beginner on tuba is a good ole sousaphone mounted in a chair type stand. Maybe we to often sacrifice practicality for "accepted" aesthetics. This rather ties into the question of "what makes a given make, model, etc instrument "the best" one for a given player/ensemble/hall etc.

This whole matter of redesigning, ie "engineering" instruments needs some effort. Now if anybody happened to have a box or two full of old bits and pieces they did not want, maybe I could spend some of my free time seeing what could be cobbled together to overcome some of these problems. Would not worry about making anything at it as most of my repair work is more or less pro bone anyway.

Maybe what we should do is make a listing of design concerns and post them as seperate questions for discussion then see what solutions we could find. As Rick D might say, define the desired objective then explore the possible routes for reaching it

For a starter, maybe, could somebody suggest a material which could be used to sonstruct a flexible lead pipe which would retain its inner dimensions when flexed within certain limits. Mounting would be a much smaller problem. (little worse than an adjustable thumb ring)


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