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Its condition is breathtaking. I'm not sure I've ever seen an 80+ year old tuba this well preserved. A community band has owned it for at least the last 20 years, probably longer, so it has not been in a time capsule, but it has clearly been extraordinarily well cared for.

The only issue I've found is that the fourth valve is badly aligned. Blokewashers, for which I will call Joe on Monday, will most likely take care of that.

Gonna enjoy this one for a little while, but it has two things about it that mean I probably won't keep it around: 1) It's a BBb, and I've already got one of those I try not to play much hanging around, and 2) as much as I love the sound of these big Conns, in hindsight I always forget how much work they are just to hold and to provide with enough vibrating air. This one is no exception.

I'm enjoying it a lot for now. Here's a bit of horn dorn:

A beauty to be sure! Nice find!

KiltieTuba wrote:Why not cut it to CC?

Well, don't think I haven't had that thought.

But I've only ever heard of one of these being cut to CC successfully, and besides, the condition is just so amazing that I'm not sure I could bring myself to pull that trigger.

It has made it 81 years like this. If the overall form factor didn't show it to be a horn of that vintage, I'm not sure from condition alone many of us would say it was more than a small fraction of that age. It has fewer dents and less evidence of repair than my 2 year old workhorse tuba.

For now it seems best to keep it as it is, to me.

EDIT: If one of these old monster Conns that was originally built in CC were to show up in the marketplace, I would be all over it. Pretty sure I'd have a lot of competition as well. The old catalogs show they were offered. If someone out there has one, I'd love to know it exists in real life.

KiltieTuba wrote:Why not cut it to CC?

Sacrilege. Have you no shame?

KiltieTuba wrote:Why not cut it to CC?

Why the big fascination with CC tubas, Ian?

START ANOTHER THREAD!

the elephant wrote:I like turtles.

Ian says you should cut your turtle into turtle soup.

I never understand why anyone wants to cut tubas into another key, be it BBb to CC, or Eb to F as it is much easier to just learn to play in the key the tuba is made. It can be done easily in one month of practice on the different key tuba.

The 36J is a beautiful tuba - congratulation!

Neptune wrote:I never understand why anyone wants to cut tubas into another key, be it BBb to CC, or Eb to F as it is much easier to just learn to play in the key the tuba is made. It can be done easily in one month of practice on the different key tuba.

Especially since the 'need' to create a big CC tuba has kind of passed with the introduction of the "York-like brass tuba objects". The introduction of quality 5/4 and smaller CC tubas have also made the need to modify BBb tubas obsolete with the notable exception of the tubas Sam Gnagey builds. Not sure if what Sam does can properly called 'cutting'. They have such a good reputation for sound, there must be more to what he does than merely cutting down a 2341's tubes and putting a vintage Eb bell on it.