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AMEN

Like the leadpipe on my Willson (made in Switzerland…says so on the bell) 2900 leaking at the valve section? I am the original owner.

I took to my brass tech and was shocked to find that my leadpipe on my Willson(made in Switzerland remember) was held on by nothing but silver plating? It had no solder on the joint at all. The horn plays better now than it ever has, and I've had it 15 years.

I don't care where you get your horn. Everyone makes mistakes at some point.

I have two tubas from the land of cell phones and one from the land of bratwurst. Not one of them has fallen apart so far.

Over the years I had a B&H Imperial were the bottom bow separated through a combination of poor solder and a dent much like Dales band mates had a dent close to the failed joint.
I also have a Wessex 700 were a stay let go either through me not being careful when removing from case or bad solder it was 3 months old and Neptune paid for it to be repaired with out question or quibble.

I had a solder joint break on a Walter Nirschl horn... twice. Still the best horn I'll ever own, I'm certain. Made in Germany... bought from the U.S.

Guess how it broke... Pulling the slide. I mean... beyond dropping the thing, how else would you manage to bust a solder joint than during operation?

Anyhow, moving on to other topics.

LJV wrote:

Toobist wrote:I had a solder joint break on a Walter Nirschl horn... twice. Still the best horn I'll ever own, I'm certain. Made in Germany... bought from the U.S.

Damned Yankees...

Too bad it was not made in Canada. Then we would appoint a royal commision to study the matter for five years and end up with a finding which was inconclusive.

Most people do not realize this is all-too-common in brass instruments, regardless of where your instrument was made or how much it cost. As far as internal problems that the player experiences, but will never see unless they see their instrument while it is disassembled in the shop, I've seen and repaired these issues in every type of instrument. I would say the odds are better than 100 to 1 that your instrument does not have 100% perfectly-soldered joints. I cannot tell you how many faulty tuning slide assemblies I've dealt with, but every one of them that was repaired made for a vastly better instrument.

It takes less time to re-solder the joint than to complain about it. I used to have a @1971 Besson BBb 3-valve comp. (I sold it to a friend, so I can borrow it back any time I desire, but I digress....) As I only came to own the tuba when it was close to 40 years old, one by one all of the solder joints were starting to go and over the course of the few years I owned it I took it in every few months to my local tech to resolder the next joint to go, whether a brace, a valve slide bow, or what have you.

Way to much is made of this issue. Just fix it and move on.

Lee Stofer wrote:Most people do not realize this is all-too-common in brass instruments, regardless of where your instrument was made or how much it cost. As far as internal problems that the player experiences, but will never see unless they see their instrument while it is disassembled in the shop, I've seen and repaired these issues in every type of instrument. I would say the odds are better than 100 to 1 that your instrument does not have 100% perfectly-soldered joints. I cannot tell you how many faulty tuning slide assemblies I've dealt with, but every one of them that was repaired made for a vastly better instrument.

Keen observation, my Willson 3100 had a terrible solder joint out of the 5th to the main. It was floating and only held by a brace in place. They all have their faults and become more appearent with age as stress from use becomes apparent.

LJV wrote:

Grooving for Heaven wrote:Still have those Christian verses on your facebook page i see. Dont talk the talk if you arent going to walk the walk

Which makes me ask, WWJDWTST?*

*What would Jesus do with that soldering torch...?

Or, just in general, WWJDWTS.