Repair person Laud/ Modifications to 6450/2 (Horn dorn!)
Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 4:06 pm
I'd like to publicly laud Martin Wilk for his awesome work to my 6450/2 this week! He is absolutely the best repair person/designer that I've ever worked with! I now have the 6450/2- Hardisky Model!
I contacted him weeks ago about some ideas I'd like to have done to my 6450/2. I feel that this is the best CC tuba I've ever played, but no tuba is "one size fits all". The leadpipe, no matter what tuba stand I used with it just didn't hit my face at the "right" angle. I have an overbite (like a high percentage of the world's population) and prefer the mouthpiece to make contact with my chops at an upward angle. In order to do this, we had to move the leadpipe down and then bend it at the receiver. Martin was the only repair person I spoke with that had absolutely no reservations in doing this for me! Several suggested that I buy a new leadpipe "just in case".
After moving it, Martin suspected it would make the already freaking awesome tuba even better by taking it off the bell. Man, was he right! The resonance and projection increased immediately! So, he simple created a quick brace, and that was that!
I also asked him to "fix" the pitch of the 5th valve. While the namesake of this model tuba might insist on having a tremendously flat 5th valve, I prefer it to be useful on notes like F, E, Eb, D, and Db in the "pedal" register. So, we took tuning measurements of how flat it was pushed in all the way, and pulled out 1". From that, we determined a rough estimate of what measurement coincided with how many cents flat it was, and cut off 1" from the inner part of the slide. To do so, Martin had to rotate the inner slide in and completely rebrace (what was a very exposed, minimally braced slide) the 5th slide. Now, it's tucked in more and far more secure.
In the spirit of lack of bracing, we decided to brace the main tuning slide. On a normal 6450, the tuning slide is not braced to anything. There is one brace on the crook for the slide itself, and one can jiggle the ever living #$^&! out of the main slide. I can't imagine what would happen if something made contact with it, either in shipping or otherwise.So, Martin fabricated some new braces for the slides and one to attach to the inner branch. At first, it completely changed the way the instrument responded and the even-ness of the horn. So, we had to rework them each about 4 times to remove some of the tension. We came to a nice improved state and the slide is far better braced.
Additionally, Martin added a nice little ring to my 4th slide on the inside where my hand will naturally sit. I now have access to all 4 top slides from the inside of the tuba. For the last year, I've been reaching over the tuba to get to the slides, thus creating some unwanted tension in my left shoulder.
Additionally, He lapped my slides and pistons, and they've never worked better! I had him install 2 Saturn water keys on the 3rd and 4th valves where the water ACTUALLY collects! A big design flaw of this tuba (IMO) is the placement of the darned water keys. They are on the pipe that doesn't collect water, and you've got to do the pull and dump or the turn, flip, and spin to get the water out. We fixed that.
Martin is a fantastic guy, with extensive know-how! He's incredibly humble, very modest, and has a LOADED music repair shop. He even has his own Ultrasonic cleaning tank. He's great about letting you watch, help, or whatever level of involvement that you want! He's the guy who you've always wanted to work on your horns, but never heard of! Should anyone want to contact him, please feel free to PM me.
And now, as promised.. the pictures:
http://s472.photobucket.com/albums/rr83 ... y%20Model/" target="_blank
Enjoy!
I contacted him weeks ago about some ideas I'd like to have done to my 6450/2. I feel that this is the best CC tuba I've ever played, but no tuba is "one size fits all". The leadpipe, no matter what tuba stand I used with it just didn't hit my face at the "right" angle. I have an overbite (like a high percentage of the world's population) and prefer the mouthpiece to make contact with my chops at an upward angle. In order to do this, we had to move the leadpipe down and then bend it at the receiver. Martin was the only repair person I spoke with that had absolutely no reservations in doing this for me! Several suggested that I buy a new leadpipe "just in case".
After moving it, Martin suspected it would make the already freaking awesome tuba even better by taking it off the bell. Man, was he right! The resonance and projection increased immediately! So, he simple created a quick brace, and that was that!I also asked him to "fix" the pitch of the 5th valve. While the namesake of this model tuba might insist on having a tremendously flat 5th valve, I prefer it to be useful on notes like F, E, Eb, D, and Db in the "pedal" register. So, we took tuning measurements of how flat it was pushed in all the way, and pulled out 1". From that, we determined a rough estimate of what measurement coincided with how many cents flat it was, and cut off 1" from the inner part of the slide. To do so, Martin had to rotate the inner slide in and completely rebrace (what was a very exposed, minimally braced slide) the 5th slide. Now, it's tucked in more and far more secure.
In the spirit of lack of bracing, we decided to brace the main tuning slide. On a normal 6450, the tuning slide is not braced to anything. There is one brace on the crook for the slide itself, and one can jiggle the ever living #$^&! out of the main slide. I can't imagine what would happen if something made contact with it, either in shipping or otherwise.So, Martin fabricated some new braces for the slides and one to attach to the inner branch. At first, it completely changed the way the instrument responded and the even-ness of the horn. So, we had to rework them each about 4 times to remove some of the tension. We came to a nice improved state and the slide is far better braced.
Additionally, Martin added a nice little ring to my 4th slide on the inside where my hand will naturally sit. I now have access to all 4 top slides from the inside of the tuba. For the last year, I've been reaching over the tuba to get to the slides, thus creating some unwanted tension in my left shoulder.
Additionally, He lapped my slides and pistons, and they've never worked better! I had him install 2 Saturn water keys on the 3rd and 4th valves where the water ACTUALLY collects! A big design flaw of this tuba (IMO) is the placement of the darned water keys. They are on the pipe that doesn't collect water, and you've got to do the pull and dump or the turn, flip, and spin to get the water out. We fixed that.
Martin is a fantastic guy, with extensive know-how! He's incredibly humble, very modest, and has a LOADED music repair shop. He even has his own Ultrasonic cleaning tank. He's great about letting you watch, help, or whatever level of involvement that you want! He's the guy who you've always wanted to work on your horns, but never heard of! Should anyone want to contact him, please feel free to PM me.
And now, as promised.. the pictures:
http://s472.photobucket.com/albums/rr83 ... y%20Model/" target="_blank
Enjoy!