lip for bell

[clintontuba2]

Does anyone know of a product you may put around the rim of your bell, to avoid scratching, and bending. I have a king 2341, with a 20'' bell, so it is fairly thin....i would like to avoid it messing with the timbre ......any info would be nice.

[windshieldbug]

... to avoid scratching, and bending.

Anything substantial enough to retard bending is for sure going to already cause the things you want to prevent!

[twoconnguy]

I made my own out of 1/4" I.D. clear vinyl tubing from the hardware store. The bead on my Conn bell rim is about 1/4", but you might want a different size, depending what size the bead is on your King. I bought a long enough piece, pi x 24", or about 80" and carefully slit it lengthwise with a utility knife with a new blade. It's not easy to slit it without having it corkscrew on you so you might want to buy some extra tubing to practice with (I think I payed less than $.20 per foot for it). After I successfully slit it, I test fit around the bell rim to get the length correct...you don't want it to be baggy, nor over stretched so the glue joint fails. I glued the ends together with super glue. After the glue set, I carefully worked it on around the bell. I've had it on my horn and off a few times for polishing for about two years now, with no problems. It does dampen the bell from ringing a bit, but I'm not sure if that is a negative. Most bells with a garland don't ring either, and I don't hear people complaining about them not ringing.

[Harvey Hartman]

Hi Car door protector. Its plastic. You can get it at a Napa Store. Brass ,Silver ,Black Lots of colors. It goes right on the edge of the door or your tuba bell. You may have to buy a Big roll so if you just want a picese I do have brass color. you can email hh3valves@aol.com