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I've been wanting to make one of these neat little Yamahas into a 4V horn for a long time. Well... it's one of two projects I started on Monday morning. The valve section is finished except for putting on the 4th wrap and re-routing the main slide.

Wow - great job!
That valve cluster looks factory!

It will be interesting to hear how it will work.

Awesome! You should bring that along when you come out for Windjammers! What's the other project you started?

Tubajug wrote:Awesome! You should bring that along when you come out for Windjammers! What's the other project you started?

A chromatic Alphorn... here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=60114#p504058" target="_blank

It's called the Weril J680. The BBb actually doesn't play as nice as the 103, but the CC (681) does.

On a YBB-103 there's a place downstream and around the bend from the valve cluster where a somewhat larger-bore rotary valve could be installed. I think that would make a 4th valve with less resistance. I never did it because the horn that I had was pretty weak on high Gb.
But if I had, my project would not have looked as good as yours. Can't wait to see the final product.

Here's a picture of the finished horn. I played it at a rehearsal Saturday morning... a Dixieland gig Saturday evening... and a community band rehearsal Sunday afternoon. I plan to take to a gig with The Hadi Shriners tonight. The horn is a ton of fun to play and has an incredibly large sound for such a small bore. There's more about the horn here: http://thevillagetinker.com/Misc%20stuff.htm

Great work as always, Dan!
Mark

Fabulous! I would order one from you right now if I could... How much more does it weigh? It it still pretty easy to stand and play? Is the valve section still removable?

Looks great!

Tubajug wrote:Fabulous! I would order one from you right now if I could... How much more does it weigh? It it still pretty easy to stand and play? Is the valve section still removable?

Looks great!

Jordan... I can't find and of the old specs on the 103 since it's been discontinued for several years. I doubt if the horn weighs more than maybe twelve or so pounds including the new piping.

I am not a fan of removable valve sections so this one has been put together 'permanent'. The transition tube that normally had a pinch screw on both ends has also been soldered solid.

I don't stand with the horn but do not use a play-stand like with my larger tubas.

Intonation is very good. I'm not making any plans to build any more of these things. The customization was not an easy task and basically requires two complete horns for the job.

That is one of the most awesome things I have seen in a while. Very well done!

For what it is worth, Dan is not just a talented and creative repair person, but a good guy all-around.

Nice job!!

Nice work Dan! I'm planning a 4th valve circuit for one of the YBB-104's that I cut down to CC. I'd been thinking Jupiter rotary before the MTS but you have me thinking now ...

bigtubby wrote:Nice work Dan! I'm planning a 4th valve circuit for one of the YBB-104's that I cut down to CC. I'd been thinking Jupiter rotary before the MTS but you have me thinking now ...

Tom... I'm not a big fan of the 'three plus one' setups and much prefer to have the fourth valve under my 'pinky'. It's just my own personal preference. I think putting a rotor into the leadpipe or in the main tuning slide is by far easier even though building a thumb linkage can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. Grafting on another piston has never presented much of a problem for me... even a couple of times where I've had to deal with oval 'short-action' ports. The biggest drawback to adding a piston is that you have to basically 'scrap' a good valveset to salvage a casing and knuckles.