TubeNet

I got to honk very briefly on the S.J. Kruspe BBb tuba this morning. The problems are just exactly what you might expect them to be with such an old instrument. The basic open notes were fairly decent, including a very solid low Bb. I had no trouble taking it up to the high F above the staff. So far, so good. But there's a big problem with second valve notes. I think that either the second valve rotor is so far out of alignment, or/and, there's a leak around the rotor itself or somewhere in the second valve tubing. I just didn't have time to investigate further, nor am I somebody who should be opening up old rotors. The bumpers were completely worn on both the down and return strokes for all four rotors. There's also a pretty nasty dent on the main tuning slide. There are no major or minor dents on the leadpipe, and all of the ones on the main bugle are fairly small - no 'biggie' in my opinion.

The fourth valve low F was reasonably good too, but the notes in-between the low Bb and low F were very funky. The notes between bottom space F and low Bb were not too bad. From there on up, more notes were hit and miss (and taking into account the before mentioned problem with second valve notes).

My opinion is that this horn probably can be made into a decent 'player' without a serious overall, pending on what the real situation with the rotors is. I gave the owner my opinion as to who they should go see and talk to in the immediate bay area, with Oberloh being a good choice for a complete restoration job, if so desired. Hopes this helps. Again, I had very little time to spend with the horn.

Barry Guerrero; S.F. (and I work in Campbell, part time)