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I am researching some intonation issues and it seems to me I remember a tale about an English euphonium, probably a Besson or Boosey, having a sharp note which could be fixed by making a small dent in one of the valve slide knuckles with a ball peen hammer. I can't seem to turn up the discussion of this issue, the particular notes or the euphonium involved, but I'm sure that one or more of you will know what I'm talking about.

Thanks for any help on this . . .

Here you go.

Postby iiipopes » Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:34 am

I used to have a 3-valve comp of the same vintage. Besson made both 3-valve and 4-valve compensating tubas. As far as model number, it is academic as there was only the 3-valve comp, the 4-valve comp and the non-comp versions.

If I were selling it, I would simply state "Besson New Standard four valve compensating BBb tuba," with the condition and serial number, roughly correlated to the year of manufacture.

BTW - I keep in touch to the guy I sold mine to, if I need to borrow it back. My 3-valve comp had the best intonation of any tuba I've ever played. It was worth trading off the near-pedal tones for the in-tune 5th and even 7th partials. Just like the "dent" that F-tuba players say helps low C intonation, mine had a dent in the knuckle between the first and second valves. I had it fixed, and lost my intonation. So I took the round end of a small ball peen hammer, reintroduced the dent, and got my intonation back.

Tbn.al,

Not too much OT, but weren't you also the one who posted about putting a short piece of lead tape somewhere inside the bell to improve response of a certain note ... maybe the high 'B' natural?

No, I'm not that adventurous. All I did was a search for "ball peen". It may have been iiipopes.

So I wondered how that dent got into the valve knuckle of my Besson... someone read a similar post and took a ball peen hammer to my horn before I bought it!