Posted by Joseph on March 19, 2004 at 15:29:04:
In Reply to: Re: school tubas: top-action vs front-action posted by Kenneth Sloan on March 19, 2004 at 14:43:42:
I had the same reaction as Kenneth. We had Miraphone 186s serving hard time when I was in school. They held up great! In ten years the valves were never oiled and they still worked great. The teacher told us that rotors didn't need oiling.. she thought that saliva from playing was all the lubrication it needed. Seems like the tollerances are so much tighter on a piston that they would be more vulnerable to irrepairable damage than a rotor. All the high schools in the area own rotor BBbs at the highschool level and when I see the horns in lessons they always seem just fine other than typical dents.
That being said, I'm no repairman and have no perspective from that side of the equation. If you say that a broken valve stem or pushed in casing isn't as common or such a big deal as the equivalent issues on a rotor horn I will just have to believe you.
As for top action horns not holding up as well.. I can easily see why that would be the case. I've seen horns with the slides torqued just enough to make valves stick but not enough to be obvious to the eye too many times.