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I need some advice on my old York Master. I love the horn to death. She and I sound like a dying dog for about the first four minutes of any rehearsal, but then its nothing but fun from there on in. I have three problems with the horn, one of which I'm hoping to fix myself, one which I think can and should be done by a guy a know locally, and a third that may be complicated.

The horns lacquer is almost non-existent. Which is fine, I love that "old" look. But I keep getting the blackness all over my hands. I was told that if I were to simply stick the horn in my tub (valves removed of course) and just scrub I could get off the remaining lacquer. I heard it'll make my tub really nasty for the short term, but it'd be worth it to not have to wash my hands after practice, etc.

Second problem is spit. I get massive amount of spit caught up in the first and third valves. They are well lubed, and I can get them in and out quite quickly, but I was thinking about having spit valves installed in those places. Would that possibly screw anything up?

And last but not least... While recording bells can be massive amounts of fun, I'm finding that a straight bell would be an awesome addition to this horn. Then I wouldn't have to wear an earplug or strain to hear myself, and it'd be a lot less intense for whoever’s conducting... Are there any bells out there that can fit a York Master? Looks don't matter at all, just sound.

Thanks to all in advance.

I have a York-Master as well. These horns are kind of heavy, so they take a while to warmup. I can't comment on the lacquer, mine is silver plated. I get a lot spit the the first and third valve slides as well. Luckily not nearly as much as I get in the main tuning slide. I was thinking about adding a spit valve on the first slide. It shouldn't bother anything, the 4th valve slide has one and those notes still sound fine. Finding an upright bell is a problem. After I got my YM last October I started looking and found few leads. I may have just got the last one around for a while. Dillon Music sold me the extra bell that is listed with the York-Master they have on their used tuba page. It is the same bell a couple of folks here on TubeNet told me about. It was owned by a tuba teacher at Ithaca State University but I could not get hold of him to ask about it. So I was almost going to buy a factory second bell from Kanstul and have it cut to size. The hard part is coming up with a tenon to fit the bell collar.

Check this thread to see my York-Master.

fpoon, I added spit valves to my first and third valve slides on my old King. Glad I did.

Likewise, I added extra spit valves to my sousaphone and the 3d valve slide of my Besson. Great relief, especially when your horn starts groaning in the middle of a piece and you don't have time to pull & dump. It may not get all the water out, but you won't sound like a gurgling sewer waiting for a chance to dump.

Hey man,

Have Glenn in Salem put some Amado water keys on your horn. He did for my horn and they've worked great! Much more durable than the standard water key.


My 2 cents from the west coast.

What about mouth pieces? What are you York Master guys using? I used a regular Conn Helleberg for a while, and liked the sound, but found out I was coming out quite flat when I played with others, etc. I've since been using a Yamaha Canadian Brass model that seems to stay in tune a lot better.

fpoon wrote:What about mouth pieces?

Try to find one like the mouthpiece that came with it. The biggest, deepest one you can find would be the best, I think.

LoyalTubist wrote:The biggest, deepest one you can find would be the best, I think.

I agree. My York Master responds well to a Doug Elliott T cup with a T-6 backbore. The T7 shank would have been better, but I could not control it. That mouthpiece goes all woofy on my other tubas (particularly the Holton), but not the YM. A PT-50, possibly opened up a bit, would be a comparable starting point.

On the bell, there is nothing I know of that will fit directly. I believe a Miraphone 186 bell could be made to fit but you'd have to replace the whole bell stack down to the bottom bow. The YM has a fairly narrow throat considering the size of the bell and bottom bow, and the tenon is high in the throat. Most that I've tried (particular the old-style King bells) don't even come close to fitting.

Rick "using smaller mouthpiece on most other tubas" Denney

[quote="LoyalTubist]The biggest, deepest one you can find would be the best, I think.
[/quote]

Try this one:
http://www.angus1.com/ssh/index.html#numbers