TubeNet

Howdy fellow tubenetters,

I just had my horn at harv's for its 5,000 note tune up and I had him plate the slide ends, valve caps and buttons in gold. Now they match my gold Helleberg. It turned out pretty nice, so now at least I will LOOK good when I play.





I also had harv rebuild the tuning slide to its original length. 23 years ago, when I bought the horn, I had the slide cut in a futile attempt to bring the pitch up, but it was not enough, so the horn was always a bit flat, especially when it was cold. Then he cut 2 inches out of the back via the "Parker cut" You can see the nice big ferrules at the joints for the bow. That made it a very nice and fairly easy job. He still had to stretch the one tube abit but it fits like a glove now! She is spot on A=440 now with the tuning slide half way out.

The bow in the middle of the back is the one that was cut.




Thanks Harv. You da man!!!!

ken k

It needs a naked Heidi Fleiss (laundromat lady these days) on the bell to be fully pimped.

I'd say it's a few neon lights and 7" LCD monitors short of being thoroughly pimped.

Seriously, though, muy muy awesome!

Nice Stewart Stand

Looks very nice. Might I ask who this amazing Harv is that you all keep talking about? I'd like to have the same done to my 983 at somepoint in the future and am looking for someone to do the work. Thanks.

Strange that a Sovereign would be flat to begin with. Their quality control is usually better than that...

J.c.S.

DavidK wrote:Harv's Happy Horns, located in eastern PA.

One man, one dog, one shop. Harv does good work at VERY reasonable rates. Very personable and always willing to share info over the phone, even if he doesn't make a penny on it.

PS. Nice pimp job on the horn. Very up-town!

Yes, he just completely refurbished my 40K. Took all the dents out, buffed, chem. dip, and put new lacquer. new corks, new felts, valve job, new valve buttons.. This has got to be one of the best horns I have ever played. Harvs DA MAN!!!

Harold "Harv" Hartman
HH3valves@aol.com
610-367-7232

MartyNeilan wrote:Nice Stewart Stand

yeah and you ain't gettin it back!!! especially now that it is mounted on the beast.

i was just playing euph today and thinking wow I really need to get a stewart stand for this thing. you don't happen to have a euph SS do you??
kk

J.c. Sherman wrote:Strange that a Sovereign would be flat to begin with. Their quality control is usually better than that...

J.c.S.

Actually this is pretty common with these horns. This is the cut that John Fletcher had done to his horns, so i figure if it is good enough for him...

somewhere I have an article about this "Parker cut" saved on my computer if I can find itI will post it here for you.

ken "maybe now I will sound just like fletch...."k

Found the article, some time ago Tom Brekhus sent me this...
Hi,

I've got a copy of the John Fletcher biography "A Celebration: John Fletcher, tuba extraordinary" in which John Fletcher himself says the following about mouthpieces on the Besson Eb tubas he was playing.

John Fletcher died in 1987, so this had to be written at least a few years before then, although I do not know the exact date. The book itself was published in 1997.

"I have for years used a Bach 24AW with the Eb, but others feel that this is tool large and are using the Denis Wick 3. This was designed very much with this instrument in mind and suits it excellently. There are also smaller and larger Wick models which should be investigated if possible. Another very good medium-large mouthpiece is the Conn 7B. Whatever mouthpiece a decent Eb player finishes up with, it is almost certain to be bigger than the small one which has always been supplied with the instrument, and thereby hand a very sore point. Even with this smaller mouthpiece the new Ebs from B&H are barely up to pitch. With a larger mouthpiece--even with the shank turned down--they are monstrously flat when played by a a good player with a non-stretch embouchure. The only cure known to me is to cut about one a half inches off each side of the back-bow. B&H claim that they leave the factory dead in tune with their oscilloscope and that they have had no complaints from anyone else. Perhaps they all complain to me instead! Many people experience flatness in the high register, particularly with high B treble clef (sounding D) and using larger mouthpiece possibly accentuates this. The degree of flatness varies from instrument to instrument. Futhermore, there are too many peple about who play in tune with large mouthpieces--and even more who play flat with small ones--for any clear conclusion to be drawn about the effect of large mouthpieces on this problem. I would argue that a larger mouthpiece gives greater scope for more effective use of the facial muscles around the embouchure in developing the high register, ultimately giving the player much more control over the pitch of notes than if he just stretches, presses hard, and hopes for the best. The new, larger leadpipe which is to become standard, goes some way toward improving this fault, as well as opening up the sound more throughout the range." -John Fletcher


Hope you find it interesting,

Tom Brekhus

Greg wrote:

J.c. Sherman wrote:Strange that a Sovereign would be flat to begin with. Their quality control is usually better than that...

J.c.S.

Really? Every Besson Sovereign I've seen played had the main tuning slide pushed nearly if not all the way in. With my 983, I keep it nearly all the way in all the time.

see this old thread on the old tubenet:

http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/feb2003 ... 23457.html

ken k

I take it that you didn't need to do anything to any of the valve tubing to address tuning when you did "the cut" ?

Geotuba wrote:I take it that you didn't need to do anything to any of the valve tubing to address tuning when you did "the cut" ?

I did have the valve slides cut a little bit also. The second valve especially was flat after the horn was cut.

Luckily I do not live far from Harv so I went to his shop three times and played the horn with the tuner, each time he made a cut. With the tuning slides I figured if we cut them too short I could always pull it back out.
not so with the back bow cut!
ken k