Posted by John Swensen on October 17, 2000 at 15:05:17:
As an occasional dabbler in tuba surgery, I sometimes wonder how much tube joint alignment matters in tubas. Is there benefit from getting all joints within .002", or is .020" OK? Can all effects of misalignment be corrected by chamfering the joint?
Are there some places or degrees of misalignment that are so critical that they justify realigning and resoldering a joint?
(By way of reference, typical tuba tubes have wall thicknesses of .015" to .030", sheet of paper is about.004", and a step of .001" can easily be felt with a fingernail).