Posted by Doug Elliott on October 12, 2003 at 23:51:29:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Drilling out the ol' backbore posted by Brandon Ostrom on October 10, 2003 at 16:18:26:
I should start by saying that I am not a tubist, and I don't specifically know the horn in question.
Klaus is absolutely right. The resistance you feel when playing is a result of the standing wave resonance of the air column, and has NOTHING to do with blowing resistance without creating a resonance. "Stuffy" usually means it's not resonating properly, which can be a bad taper or mismatched tubing or a leak in any part of the horn. Very likely it is the leadpipe as Klaus suggested. Opening the throat of the mouthpiece might make it feel better, but it doesn't take care of the underlying problem. Quite honestly, I don't yet have enough experience with tubas to have a more specific suggestion.