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Well, I finally have a new bell on my Bach tuba. I traded the 184 bell I bought to Dan Schultz (TubaTinker) and he made me a bell! He had a stack from a Conn 12J and put the flare from a silver Blessing on it. I have therefore dubbed my new horn a Bachonnsing tuba.

It is more compact (both physically and sonically). It seems to have a more focused, direct sound. It's not as bright as the 184 bell, and doesn't get nearly as edgy when pushed. It can still get there, but not as easily or quickly as the 184 bell did.

My horn played on the flat side before, so the tuning slide was all the way in. Now I can have it out a bit (this bell is about 1 1/2" shorter than the original bell) and have room to adjust if necessary.

Of course, Dan did a great job on construction (my soldering was a bit messy getting it together, but I'm getting better!) and I couldn't be more pleased with the trade. Now for some Frankenhorn dorn!



He managed to save some of the engravings off both bells (kinda hard to see):

Yeah...I gave it a whirl. It worked out in the end (thought not with the 184 bell...).

I must also say that I really like the "two tone" look of it. It gives it a very custom feel, probably because it is custom!

*Forgot to mention that the flare is 15" for those who might be interested.

looks great!

Cool! What's up with the valve section?

I'm not sure what you mean by "what's up with the valve section?" The only thing I've done there is add a pull ring to the first valve slide and shorten the third valve tubing. I'm not sure what else you're seeing that might look out of place.

Nice looking tuba. I wish you much enjoyment while playing it. I did notice you said your 12J played flat prior to the conversion. Did the conversion help and if so, what do you think caused the improvement? I have a friend who plays a 12J that is very sharp. Do you know if these horns generally have tuning issues? If there are suggestions for improving the tuning (I already know about adding a tuning bit), please let me know. What mouthpiece characteristics have you found to give the best tone from your horn?

opus37 wrote:Nice looking tuba. I wish you much enjoyment while playing it. I did notice you said your 12J played flat prior to the conversion. Did the conversion help and if so, what do you think caused the improvement? I have a friend who plays a 12J that is very sharp. Do you know if these horns generally have tuning issues? If there are suggestions for improving the tuning (I already know about adding a tuning bit), please let me know. What mouthpiece characteristics have you found to give the best tone from your horn?

The original tuba here is a Bach 869 (basically the same thing as an Olds 0-99). The flatness may have been due to a leak, because when I took the leadpipe off to replace the bell, there was no solder holding it onto the valve block. I used a Conn Helleberg 7B with good results. I also shortened the third valve slide tubes to bring 2-3 valve combinations up to pitch (they were very flat).

bloke wrote:

Tubajug wrote:Yeah...I gave it a whirl. It worked out in the end (thought not with the 184 bell...).

I must also say that I really like the "two tone" look of it. It gives it a very custom feel, probably because it is custom!

*Forgot to mention that the flare is 15" for those who might be interested.

Those of us casually interested know that the Blessing is a King 1140 knock-off (15").

I did not know that! Thanks for the knock-off knowledge bloke!