TubaForum.net

I've been picking over my (very nice and actually "vintage"/sorta-valuable) bass guitar just lately.

My technique is returning, and (I suppose) that's encouraging me to examine the instrument itself more.

I also suddenly find myself with a superior combo amp (which simply means that the amplifier and speaker cabinet are all-in-one).

This amp offers MUCH better electronic interpretation of "articulation" than with any of my other amps...
ie. It "hears" (much better than my old amps) what my right hand fingers are doing to begin sound events.

This factor got me to thinking about "set up".

I started looking at the string heights.
...not "ridiculous", but much higher than I remember having set them back when I was a working "bassist".
@Rick Denney no vowel after "bass", so - likely - no argument from you, regarding this word.

I remembered that a friend asked me (after I wasn't playing much anymore) if he could "set it up" for me...so that HAS to be what happened to the string heights.

This bass sports a flawless (arrow straight) neck (which has NEVER wavered) whereby I can get away with remarkably low string heights (AS LONG AS I don't beat the crap out of the strings, and let the amplification system do the work.

BACK TO PREVIOUS BLATHER:
SINCE this combo amp does such as great job with ARTICULATION, I do not NEED to "hit" hard to get a good "front" on sound events...medium-light touch: the amp says "I HEARD THAT!"

Now that I've lowered all strings (guess what) my SPEED instantly improved.

==========================================================

RELATED TO "SETTING UP" A TUBA

Over the years, I've had quite a few people tell me that they want (pistons) stronger springs or (rotors) stronger spring tension, so they can play faster.
1/ Assuming reasonable finger strength, the valves will be actuated (depressed) as fast as the finger can actuate it.
2/ If the "RETURN" speed of a valve can consistently "outrun" the speed of a player's fingers, those springs are plenty strong enough.
3/ Valves should be CLEAN and FREE OF LIME DEPOSITS, which maximizes (any type of) valve speed with any particular strength of spring.
4/ OILING all the valves (before AND after each playing session) discourages the buildup of filth and hard lime deposits on valves and casings.
5/RATHER THAN $5/oz. "valve oil", I'm able to afford to (generously) adhere to 4/ via the purchase of "Ultrapure Parafin Lamp Oil" - $.1X/oz. (Amazon, by the gallon - whichever is cheapest...along with those cheap red plastic Harbor Freight funnels, and (pulling the nipples from empty valve oil bottles and popping them back in place, after refilling them) I then have quite a few years of value oil, and (using it quite generously) I use up a gallon prior to it become putrid (aka "smelly" - as with old gasoline).

summary:
a. Avoid over-tensioning valve springs (or springs which are intrinsically stronger than needed).
b. Oil before and after each playing session, and to the point of (what may seem to be) absurd generosity with the oil.
c. Buy oil for a few cents per oz., rather than several dollars per oz...in order to easily afford b.
d. Valves may need to be professionally cleaned. A "bath" (with soap or detergent, seemingly popular among tubaists) does nothing at all, as far as removing lime deposits (and most players lack the attention to detail to remove all of the filth lurking in the tubing "knuckles" leading directly into the valve casings.

bloke wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 10:58 am... tubaists...

Rick "sigh" Denney

<SIDEBAR>

Rick is the 2nd-easiest person (at least who I've encountered) to irritate with the only clearly-understood-meaning version of this word.

The easiest was Bart Cummings (RIP) who - I tend to suspect is responsible for attempting to "de-coin"/degrade it from "tubaist" to "tubist".
(Man-oh-man...Bart would hit the ceiling were anyone to point out that his failed version is a complete head-scratcher (to approximately 100% of laypeople).

I personally prefer "tuba player", but - pre-early 1970's (and to date), this is the only clear-to-laypeople and legitimate version of the word:

pronunciation:
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/di ... sh/tubaist

Rick complains about the hiatus of the vowels ("a" next to "i"), but - well - discarding the "a" involves (again) nearly a complete loss of clarity of the likely word definition (unless - increasing the chance to perhaps 30% - if used absolutely in context) to laypeople.

zoologist, biography/biology/bio-anything, hiatus (curiously the NAME of this type of word being one of the more "disruptive" of the reinitiation of a vowel sound in a word in the English language), create, chaotic...etc.

Yes, there are sites that list "tubist" as an alternate or even "equally acceptable", but - again - it just depends on whether the person speaking is more interested in "what rolls off the tongue more easily" or "the layman to whom they are speaking knowing what the hell they're talking about".

an office worker - whose hobbies are football and beer wrote:...so you have played music in halftime shows, then...so, What instrument to you play?

tuba player wrote:I am a tubist.

an office worker - whose hobbies are football and beer wrote:...uhh...OK...cool man.

</SIDEBAR>

"What instrument do you play?" "Tuba."

"What kind of musician are you?" "Untalented."

"What do you do with music?" "Harm."

"What tool do you use to inflict that harm?" "Tuba."

Repeat until the beer is gone.

(I don't think I've ever once used the word "tubist" or "tubaist" in reference to myself. I have told people that I play the tuba.)

Rick "not arguing about a word that never really needs to be used" Denney

I agree with bloke completely. Especially about the lime deposits and getting to tight knuckles. Please, don't risk damage to the horn by using the wrong kind of snakes or such that will only mar, scuff, or otherwise damage the valve knuckles, to say nothing of the valves, and please don't use vinegar, CLR, or any other "fix" of the day. I live in an area where the water is so hard from lime you can almost stand on a puddle, so I know. We have to clean our well filter at least twice as often as the manufacturer recommends. Yes, I quote this a lot, but it still holds true: the quote by Harry Callahan at the end of the movie, "A man has got to know his limitations."

Rick Denney wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 3:45 pm

bloke wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 10:58 am... tubaists...

Rick "sigh" Denney

In the UK, would it be tubaeist? Or the more proper tubaeologist for those in academia?

tubanh84 wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2026 9:47 am

Rick Denney wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 3:45 pm

bloke wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 10:58 am... tubaists...

Rick "sigh" Denney

In the UK, would it be tubaeist? Or the more proper tubaeologist for those in academia?

In the UK, it would be "chubist."

Oil is your friend, use lots of it, and I mean lots!
I make an altered "blokejuice" with about 10ish percent ATF added to give it a lovely red color, and I might start using a leftover jug of VP J20 hydraulic fluid from my old tractor. I think the ATF helps thicken it a little, especially for my 186.

Ultrapure lamp oil will definitely freeze solid in the cold, so if you are perhaps playing outside in colder weather, I'd recommend K1 kerosene as a slightly more aromatic substitute.

I use small bottles from Tipton manufacturing, normally used for pew-pew solvents. (I mix some of those myself, as well.) They have a spout with is easily POURED down the leadpipe and the 5th rotor slide in obscene volumes. I use an old rag on the floor, which is then used with the kindling in the woodstove. Win, win. Far, far cheaper than buying valve oil. Pennies on the dollar, so I have no qualms flooding the horn with oil. At school, I just leave it on my desk for the students to use.

Whale oil would probably work well for a vintage smell, but that stuff is HIGHLY AROMATIC.

prodigal wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2026 11:55 am
Whale oil would probably work well for a vintage smell, but that stuff is HIGHLY AROMATIC.

I also mix my own stuff at home, mostly lamp oil, but I use mineral oil or 3-in-1 when higher viscosity is needed. I experimented with adding just a drop of aromatic essential oil to make it a little more pleasant smelling. Lime worked really well. You can get a set of essential oil bottles at a craft store fairly inexpensively. Essentially, I was trying to recreate this scented valve oil, which was very high-falutin' and fancy when I was in high school:

My wife has drawers of essential oils! Maybe I'll work on the scent of my mix.

Weird fact: sperm(whale) oil was the highest grade thin industrial oil until petroleum oils were greatly improved around WWII.

I used it for a patch lubricant on a muzzleloading rifle ONCE. It worked very well,.but what a stink!

I had the opportunity to eat whale meat a couple months ago. I am glad I had the opportunity. I'm grateful the person who brought it was willing to share it.

It was the single most foul thing I have ever put in my mouth.

You have access to some interesting foodstuffs up there!

As much as a whitetail buck can smell tens of thousands of times better than me, and traditional muzzleloader hunting is a 100 yard sport, I'm just using crisco for a patch lube. I think the smell of French fries is less defining that the stench of a triwerks.

Alaska question: Is the musical scene more active in the summers or the winters up there?