Posted by blah-blah man on March 14, 2003 at 18:08:40:
In Reply to: Re: Re: rhetoric posted by Frank on March 14, 2003 at 17:10:46:
It's too bad that U.M.I. trashed their .734" long-action valve and casing tooling for the "original" 36K and 14K.
However, even if they had that tooling, I doubt if they would have used it. I truly believe they are slapping the .687" on the instrument because it's easier, and for no other reason.
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Here's another one: Think how nice that Bach "Mercedes" tuba might have played (tooling bought from F. E. Olds c. 1980 [Olds O-99 / Reynolds TB-10 "7/8" size BBb tuba]) if Selmer had used their Bundy sousaphone (also about .730", as I recall) valve section on that instrument. For awhile, Selmer was actually making BOTH the Bundy fiberglass sousaphone and the Olds-Bach "Mercedes" tuba. Selmer could have actually SAVED MONEY by ONLY using the large bore Bundy sousaphone valve section on both the tuba and sousaphone. I believe that if they had boosted the bore size on that tuba (basically a good tuba), orders would have shot through the roof...Maybe U.S. manufacturers consider too many tuba orders to be a nuisance...(??)...' wouldn't be surprised to find that to be true, particularly since now Selmer (and Leblanc U.S.A. for MANY years) simply buys Yamaha stencils for their "harmony" brass.