Posted by jeff on April 03, 2002 at 17:27:23:
In Reply to: Popping Valves posted by TubaFrank on March 30, 2002 at 02:09:14:
I sometimes have this problem when I have over-oiled my valves. As the valve turns/goes down, a kind of oil bubble stretches across the valve port. Do you put a lot of oil on your valves before playing (or drool a lot)?
Also, vented valves are great, but make sure you have them done by someone who knows what they're doing - you can screw up a valve venting job. I had a tuba with a vented valve once, and the vent hole was just a little bit too big; the valve leaked a little and it did have a noticable impact on the response of the horn. (A bit of Swiss Army tape sorted that out).