German Kaiser arrived, HORNPORN !!!!!

[oedipoes]

Hello folks,

Today the postman made me happy.
I had to pick up a large box at the post office with.... my Kaiser !!

The rotors work all 4, although they rattle a bit much.
The bell is wrinkled, but not too badly.
The mouthpipe needs to be soldered back to the bell.
It has a very nice example of the triangular seam on the bell, like the alex 164 on the hornguys website has.
The engravings are really wonderful and detailed.
The most of the tubes are stuck, but the one that moves is not rotten, so I have good hope for the others.
The sound is broad, warm and quite in tune with itself. A bit of ring in the sound because of the loose mouthpipe and wrinkled bell and silver bell garland.

Here are some pictures. Look and enjoy !
The background is the attic where I practise.
I'll post some more details later, let me know if specific questions.

Wim

[Dan Schultz]

Nice!

[oedipoes]

more pics

[oedipoes]

dimensions:
overall 1140mm
2nd valve tube stuck, outer dimension as shown (20mm?)
bell diameter 395mm but very large bell throat

[circusboy]

What a beautiful monster! Congratulations!

Post some sound files, if you get a chance. Thanks!

[Alex C]

OMG!!! Unless you (in the picture) are a small person, that horn will make string players have unintended bowel movements - before you play!

[jonesbrass]

Love the beautiful engraving . . . it takes time and expertise to do that kind of work, and sadly just isn't linked to profitability these day. Love the craftsmanship! Enjoy!

[Wyvern]

Very nice!

That bell shape with little flare reminds me of the M-W Hilgers Kaiser BBb

[J.c. Sherman]

... drool...

J.c.S.

[The Big Ben]

Love the beautiful engraving . . . it takes time and expertise to do that kind of work, and sadly just isn't linked to profitability these day. Love the craftsmanship! Enjoy!

And I do too! Love the engraving on the rotor buttons. It must have been played quite a bit to wear so much of it off.

Any idea of the age of the horn?

[oedipoes]

Big Ben, earlier posting on this forum dated the tuba back to the early 1930's or late 1920's.
Who am I to disagree with these specialists.

Alex C, I'm 175cm tall and weigh 80kg. So yes, I'ts a big horn, and no, I won't scare off any violins, because I don't do any symphonic playing.
I do plan to scare off clarinets, flutes and even trumpets and T-bones

I think I'll visit a repair tech tomorrow to discuss the wrinkles, dents and tubes.
Let's see how good he is.

Wim

[rocksanddirt]

looks super!

and like a monstrous horn!

good luck with the repair estimate.....

[GC]

Good visual definition of BAT.

[oedipoes]

p.s. I found a catalogue page from Wurlitzer that seems to suggest that mine is a 1937 model. Yours is, I suspect, just a few years older.

Can you upload that catalogue or email to me?
pm me.

Are there pictures from your kaiser ?

[oedipoes]

How's it sound?

There's some ringin' from the wrinkled bell and garland. There's some clattering from the loose mouthpipe against the bell too.
But apart from that, IMPRESSIVE !
The sound is very warm and broad. very clear attacks, and very much in tune, without adjustments.
I think, when it's overhauled, I'll put the band's Yama YBB321 away and use this one instead.
The both horns are just not in the same league. Everything about the Yamaha says "serial product, basic, robust, automated production..."
The kaiser says "exclusive, handwork, top line model..."

Wim

[oedipoes]

Hi oedipoes,
I have a horn almost identical to yours except for the bell. Mine was made with a big flare “American style” bell without the silver garland and also about four inches
shorter. It was made for the American importer Wurlitzer and the bell is so engraved.
I converted it to CC by shortening the lead pipe and turning around part of the tuning slide and the first (smallest) bow. It too has a fabulous sound.
These two tubas have in conmen a “nut cracker sweet” on the bottom bow, which
I removed for safety reasons! Also some of the braces, particularly on the tuning
slide, are the same, as are the thumb ring, the rotor stops, and some other parts.
I am curious about the lead pipe’s diameter as mine came with a tiny receiver
too small for modern American tuba mouthpieces.
I would also like so say that contrary to popular fashion, I kept the springs as their only drawback seems to be the difficulty in fine adjustment. I got mine right and they have served me well. If you decide to remove those heavy “S links” you can still keep the springs and the rotor stops and get very quick, short stroke machine by cutting off part of the rotor stop and putting the linkage ball underneath it. I wish I had a photo of this part because it worked so very well.
If your bearings need swedging I would suggest that you get a technician who has swedged TUBAS, as French horns and other smaller rotors are different and it takes a “touch” that’s different. Once swedged and adjusted they shouldn’t need that treatment for a couple years.
Lastly, I must say that if you haven’t seen the pictures of my other horn, it’s here

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28885&p=251812&hili ... al#p251812" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

The reason I bring this up is that my Kaiser tuba has held back my other tuba’s development by at least a year. That tuba sounds so good (great really) that I
was unhappy with the stealth tuba’s tune quality because I was comparing it to
what you now own.
p.s. I found a catalogue page from Wurlitzer that seems to suggest that mine is a 1937 model. Yours is, I suspect, just a few years older.

Good luck & happy honkin!

The moutpipe works with my Denis Wick 2L , its 5 mm deeper inserted than in the Yamaha, but fits.
Like you see in the picture, i put the tuba on the chair, so no nut cracking issues here.

I do like BBb horns, so I'm most happy with the key.

Can you post a pic of your changed link assy?

Wim

[J.c. Sherman]

You know... that tuba looks identical to a B & F tuba in a catalogue I have scanned from looooong ago. I'll try to find it and post it, but suffice it to say, that's a spittin' image, bell and all!

Need to clean the slobber off my keyboard now... again!

J.c.

[oedipoes]

good luck with the repair estimate.....

Ok, so it's with the tech now...
We agreed on a general overhaul (making tubes move, clean horn, new corks and stoppers, cleaning rotors, soldering the loose parts together, making the bell garland fix again as much as possible without having to remove it.

As I expected, removing all major dents would cost me +/- 1500 or more eur (because the horn would have to be taken apart: the bell and the next two bows), so I'll wait with that. There's no hurry, and the dents do not seem to affect the sound that much.
That 1500EUR might be useful to spent on a new horn in a couple of years.

Now it's waiting again,

Wim

[Wyvern]

That 1500EUR might be useful to spent on a new horn in a couple of years.

I suspect that after playing that Kaiser a couple years and getting accustomed to the broad tones, you will not be satisfied with anything less than a Fafner for a 'new horn'

[oedipoes]

Very nice!

That bell shape with little flare reminds me of the M-W Hilgers Kaiser BBb

indeed, look at following picture !