TubeNet

I recently aqcuired a Yamaha YFB-621 F tuba. I love the horn. Maybe I'm a little picky, and maybe a little unrealistic, but the valves seem a little noisy to me. Can you do anything to make them super quiet and freely moving like a trumpets valves?? What do you all think?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Darrell

docpugh wrote:I recently aqcuired a Yamaha YFB-621 F tuba. I love the horn. Maybe I'm a little picky, and maybe a little unrealistic, but the valves seem a little noisy to me. Can you do anything to make them super quiet and freely moving like a trumpets valves?? What do you all think?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Darrell

try some new corks and felts, especially if the horn was bought used and has some miles on it already

New felts, pads, valve guides, and springs can do wonderful things for your horn.

Thanks for the input guys. What do you think I should expect to pay for a repair guy to do the kinds of things you're suggesting for the valves?

Darrell

docpugh wrote:Thanks for the input guys. What do you think I should expect to pay for a repair guy to do the kinds of things you're suggesting for the valves?

Darrell

Don't pay a repairman. Just order the felts and pads and put them on yourself. The valves screw apart. Put the new stuff in the same places as the old stuff.

TubeNet wrote:

docpugh wrote:Thanks for the input guys. What do you think I should expect to pay for a repair guy to do the kinds of things you're suggesting for the valves?

Darrell

Don't pay a repairman. Just order the felts and pads and put them on yourself. The valves screw apart. Put the new stuff in the same places as the old stuff.

If you were picky, you could always have a (good)repairman set up your felts and pads- making sure the valves were aligned perfecty- then get a bunch of sets of the exact felts and pads used so you can do it yourself in the future. I'm sure it would take the repairman less than 30min or so... not too expensive.

Thanks for all the great advice guys.

I think for once i'll have to disagree with sean. if tuba is somewhere near as important to you as it is to me, i would indeed hire a pro to do this maintenence.valve port alignment is crucial and most of us can't authoritatively do this ourselves. Plus, repairmen need to be encouraged to stay in business Mike...

Dieseltuba wrote:

docpugh wrote:I recently aqcuired a Yamaha YFB-621 F tuba. I love the horn. Maybe I'm a little picky, and maybe a little unrealistic, but the valves seem a little noisy to me. Can you do anything to make them super quiet and freely moving like a trumpets valves?? What do you all think?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Darrell

Yeh, baby! I see your proud of it. I don't know how old it is but if it has metal valve guides you can put plastic ones on it like the newer horns have and that helps some. They are easy to replace and cheap. The old metals one are adjustable a little too that may help.

Mine are the newer plastic ones. What do you think the pros vs cons are with plastic versus metal?

I agree with the statement that repair guys need to be doing this, and encouraged to stay in business. I wouldn't want someone doing their own vasectomy or taking out their gallbladder at home!

Thanks again for the advice.

I went to a workshop on simple instrument repair where the repairperson showed us that Yamaha now makes some valve guides that are made of metal but encased in nylon or some other plastic-looking material. If they have these for your tuba, it might be of interest.

Tabor

docpugh wrote:[ I wouldn't want someone doing their own vasectomy or taking out their gallbladder at home!

Now THAT'S a scary thought!