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It's my understanding that the King 2341 and Conn 5XJ valve set is *basically* the same with the exception of routing of the 4th valve tubing (if I recall correctly...).

It sounds like a good idea and could be done on the cheap as the Olds 0-99 Tubas are plentiful and relatively cheap on eBay.

While visiting Tubaranch in December I picked up Harvey's 3J and had a bit of a play. I was, frankly, amazed at just how much sound it produced with very little effort. If it is typical of the model, I don't know why so few adopted it. It was a beautiful horn to play and as I said to Carol, I would not have minded bringing it home with me. Just couldn't quite sneak it out the door though! It had to be one of the nicest and easiest horns to play that I have ever come across.

I own a 1918 Conn CC with a .687 valve bore. It's considered a "Donatelli", however, most Donatelli's came with a .734 bore. I'm not sure if these were special order and players specified the bore they wanted or not. I think Mr. Phillips' Conn had a smaller bell with a wider flare and smaller valve bore. I can tell you, my horn rocks with that valve set, however, I still feel it's a tad "tight" in the low register. But there may be other factors that contribute to that. (I suspect it could be the wrap of the 3rd and 4th valves.) I have also been thinking of putting a more modern .750 valve set on it to get a little more pop in the low range, but that may compromise the beauty of the mid and high range, which are specatcular!

Long story short, I say go for it! It sounds like a good experiment that could only improve some horns that are pretty difficult to play.

IMHO,
Frank

Let me know how it goes...

I have to wonder if the Conn/Selmer/Canadian Brass tuba pictured in this thread is similar to what you're suggesting.

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cjk wrote:I have to wonder if the Conn/Selmer/Canadian Brass tuba pictured in this thread is similar to what you're suggesting.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44967" target="_blank" target="_blank

I've actually been able to speak with Chuck Daellenbach about the new CB tuba in great detail. What Joe is thinking of and what you've figured out is pretty darn close to what the new tuba is and exactly where the parts came from and what the thought process was.

With all of the tooling that exists, Chuck mentioned being eager to try some other combinations as well. Expect to see some pretty creative use and re-working of Conn/Selmer bits and pieces...some new, some old

KiltieTuba wrote:

Tom wrote:...
With all of the tooling that exists, Chuck mentioned being eager to try some other combinations as well. Expect to see some pretty creative use and re-working of Conn/Selmer bits and pieces...some new, some old

Ahhh, I wonder if they still have the tooling necessary for jumbo sousaphones ....

Unfortunately, that was probably all trashed when Macmillian bought Conn and moved from Elkhart to Abilene.