TubeNet

Wanted to show off what I have been working on. This is a 4/4 CC tuba that I have been building. Body is from an old style King. Bell and bottom bow come from an Elkhart band instruments BBb. Valves come from a Jupiter sousaphone. It has turn out really nice so far. Open pitches are very close to each other. Plays like a super charged Getzen G50 due to the larger bore. All that I need to do now is cut down the main slide (I tend to play a little low) cut the valve slides down to CC, and get the first two valves either replated or replaced. Anybody know if I can order new oversized valves from Jupiter?

Hope you all enjoy.

Cool!

Well done!

Maybe you could post a few more pictures, and share with us how you modified the King branches to put the horn in CC?

Cool.

Very nice! Did you have to make the leadpipe? Are you planning on adding a fifth valve or leaving it as is?

Tubajug wrote:Very nice! Did you have to make the leadpipe? Are you planning on adding a fifth valve or leaving it as is?

I made the pipe from a Miraphone 186 cc pipe. Cut it to the right length and had to fudge with the end a bit but it worked out great.

I'm not sure about a fifth valve yet. As of now I don't have a slide on top for the third or fourth valve so I need to change that. Low end seems pretty nice so I may leave it as a four valve horn. My plan is to use it in quintet so I don't think I'll miss it.

Been doing more work on the tuba. Cut down all the slides. 3rd needs a little more cutting and I need to make a new slide for the 4th valve (took out a looped section and it took out too much). Still need to build top slides for 3 and 4 as well. I got valves 1 and 2 replated. valve 1 could use another plating to make it really nice and tight. Valve 2's plating did not stick well so the plater is going to redo that, And since valves 1 and 2 are gonna get replated I decided to send 3 and 4 out as well. Should be back in about 10 days or so. This thing turned out great. Pitch (once I correct the 3rd valve's slide) is really good on this horn. I'll end up putting a slide stop and a nice pull ring on the 2nd valve so I can fix 2+4 combos but other than that it doesn't need much if any slide pulling outside of the extreme low end. I have been playing it with both brass quintets out here and both of them like it more than my Mirafone 184 AND my Besson Eb. Hope you enjoy the frankentuba pictures.

A few more for you...

Fantastic! I love frankentubas! Looks (and sounds) like you built a winner!

What do the Germans think of it?!

It's fun to see imagination at work, problem solving, resourcefulness, and as George Peppard used to say on "The A Team" ... "I love it when a good plan comes together." Kudos on your hard work and perseverance.

Paul (who loves a great photo show) Maybery

Nice work! You've got a good looking horn there.

Jealous!