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guys,

I'm considering having my 1949 Conn 20k overhauled. My only concern is i'm afraid that the sound might change. When I first purchased it in 1987 it was satin silver with a shiney finish inside the bell. Now its dull and needs to have the dents removed along with the lead pipe repaired which is what's driving this thought process. It seems as if I've just gotten the sound that I've been looking for after 20+ years of playing with it. I don't know if it's due to the horn's wear with age or due to me. Anyway, I'm afraid to mess with the sound. I've played newer instruments and I have been so dissatisfied with the sound and do not want my horn to sound similar in any way. Is this a legitimate concern?

thanks.

The second time I flushed my York Master BBb a large lump of pink bubble gum came out. The sound changed a bit to the bright side, which was not of my liking.

I adjusted myself, whether it was the hearing or the playing, I don’t know.

Should I have avoided the flushing? Should I have put the gum back in a place I didn’t know where was?

Use will slowly change the instrument, maintenance may change the sound back somewhat.

Klaus

I think the lead pipe repair or replacement would possibly change the tone of your horn much more than any cosmetic changes to the bell finish. When you say "removing dents" are you talking about major bashes or just tiny dings? Tiny stuff shouldn't change the sound much, but a major overhaul (re-soldering joints and braces, removing all dents, full cleaning, valve repair/re-plating/alignment, etc.) will make the horn play differently (for the better, or why bother!?) You will probably re-adjust to the horn quickly...

Removing dents, fixing loose parts, and having the vales aligned will generally make a horn play better. Depending of exactly what you and your repairman agree to in terms of an 'overhaul'.... NO SANDING is always a good choice instead of trying to get rid of all the tiny dings and ripples.

It is difficult to judge at what point a "ding" of patina becomes a "dent" of damage. For example:

1) What appeared to be a small ding in the knuckle between the 1st and 2nd valve casing of my Besson turned out to be a major obstruction internally. It was removed. The horn "blew" much more freely. But all of a sudden, the 5th partials went from being right on pitch to being flat. A couple of judicious taps of the ball end of a ball peen hammer reintroduced just enough ding to bring the 5th partials pitch back up without obstructing the blow.

2) The 38K I play has a pretty good sized dent in the bugle. It doesn't seem to affect anything, so I'm letting it be for the time being and will get it dealt with eventually. Affect the sound or intonation? Maybe, maybe not, but it will look a whole lot better afterwards and be easier to take care of.

3) My 186 BBb was absolutely dead on bottom line Gb. It just wouldn't intonate. Nothing internal or external visible. As a last resort, my tech went through and resoldered the leadpipe into the valve block joint and a couple other joints. It cleared right up; and

4) It is not just urban legend about the proper "ding" on an F tuba to sort out the nodes and get CC to sound cleanly.

So, the bottom line is that:

1) unless there is something that is actually impeding the playability of the instrument, whether intonation, tone, or what appears to be a nodal dead note, it probably doesn't matter;

2) anything you do to the horn is a change, and will change the way the instrument plays and sounds. Whether these changes are noticable is a completely different issue. Whether these changes are good or bad can be either an objective assessment or a subjective assessment, and is even a different issue still; and

3) for longetivity of the instrument, it is always a good idea to keep the major issues sorted out, and, subject to the caveat in the first line of my post, some of the moderate issues as well, so long as metal is not removed, as the post above addresses.