TubeNet

Hi Y'all!

Does anybody here have an F-Tuba with recording/front bell

I only play Tuba in a jazz/big band setting and I've been thinking about having my F-tuba rebuilt with an exchangeable bell flare...adding a front facing bell flare...I haven't seen any F-tubas like that though..is there a particular reason or just convention?

Cheers

//Mattis

quesonegro wrote:is there a particular reason or just convention?

Low demand = low supply

That's a good idea! Might be hard to find here in Europe though...I'll keep my eyes open!

Any sound aspects that would prevent one from making the change?


//Mattis

Straight up is working here: https://youtu.be/PxPPBWiVBsc

Well, my kind of jazz setting is this:

https://youtu.be/p1DNl8BF49U

It's different than yours...

//Mattis

Cimbasso looks like a good way to get the bell pointed forward. Sounds like it fits the bill very well, too.

Naw...I love my cimbasso but it's something else all together...

There may be two problems to consider:

The general pitch may change up or down, if the collar diameter does not lead to a cut in a place, where the acoustical lengths of the original upright bell and of the replacement recording bell are not the same.

The internal pitches between the partials may change to a degree that makes the tuba hard to play.

A hobby tuba player/dealer came by a CC tuba that was so badly in tune with itself, that it was next to useless. It had a detachable upright bell. I happened to know that this player had a recording bell from a BBb tuba made by the same maker. That bell had the same conical male collar as the upright bell from the CC tuba, so I suggested this player to try the recording bell on the CC tuba. And yes, the pitch improved considerably.

I had and have a BBb tuba with a detachable recording bell from that same make. My theory is that it represented the original design of that model. The upright bell then would have been an afterthought to accommodate to changing fashions. The CC model then again was a not so successful downcut of the upright BBb model. Reintroducing the recording bell to the CC tuba then remedied some of the problems stemming from the upright bell.

Your situation is the reverse one, but then my rant illustrates my point that recording and upright bells not necessarily are exchangeable without problems.

Yet, there may be another relevant source for a recording bell, namely the old Imperial/New Standard Eb tubas that Boosey & Hawkes/Besson exported to the US. As I see it, you only need one donor tuba, if you go full tilt for the recording bell set-up, and it should be possible to come by a sample with shot valves from the US eBay without having to pay too much. If the experiment fails, you could take the collar off the recording bell and use it for your original upright bell.

Klaus

I might have what you need and I'm not too far away.

The Tuba I play is my work horn, a Willson 3200 FA-5XS. Being my work horn, I think the best way is to have it done by a top notch tech/builder or even at Willson in Switzerland. My biggest concern is the intonation etc...a possibility could be to order a new bell flare from Willson maybe...that would surely be easier as far as conversion goes!

Well...It's still not conclusive as to whether a conversion would mess up the horn...I'd hoped to maybe hear from someone playing an F Frontbell tuba, chiming in on the matter...and I like the TubeNet Freak Jury

If I can get the management to agree on it, depending on cost, that would be my first choice, have Willson build me a "Recording" bell section and have both adapted to be exchangeable. I'm not sure that they would, but it might be worth a try

//Mattis

Talk to Tim.

Cerveny 621-4


Maybe €4.290 incl. 20% VAT, though wouldn't be surprised if it could be had for less.

I had a somewhat older but basically the same, Amati with clock spring valves. It has a reasonably generous bore and played quite nice, I thought. I think if you tried one, you'd like it for what you do. The fit is decent for a helicon, but that can take some custom work if it doesn't happen to hit you square on.

Timswisstuba wrote:I might have what you need and I'm not too far away.

I can imagine, Tim

Sergio seems very happy with his Lusophone!!

There seem to be a few Miraphone 183 (Eb) tubas around with detachable recording bells. I know that I've scrapped out at least two of them just for the valve sections. They aren't widely respected to be good players anyway. That bell and bell stack should work on some of the F tubas around.

I'm just reluctant to put a below-par bell on a high end tuba...it seems counterproductive!

Just looked up your tuba. You may compare it to the tubas that may be found under

Miraphone Eb tuba 4RV BF

&

Miraphone Eb tuba 4RV BU

in the index of my brass gallery.

They differ very much from yours. Most important is the difference in the length of bell above the leadpipe and above the top bow. Your Wilson has so little length there that an alternative recording bell sitting in a collar above the present leadpipe is bound to have a longer acoustical lenght than the portion of the present bell that sits above the leadpipe.

Your idea is possible, just not with that Wilson unless you really want to mess with the basic architecture of that tuba.

Klaus

Thank you Klaus, I see what you mean, you're right!
I appreciate you taking the time to compare and look into it!

//Mattis

The only recording bell F tuba that I've ever seen or heard of is sitting right in front of me. I made it. I would love to show you guys but unfortunately Tubenet is not letting me upload my 30 KB photo of it. I only get this message:

"Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached."