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A month ago, I bought a silver Buescher Eb tuba from an acquaintance for a pretty good price, but I have a couple questions about it.

I tried dating it by doing a serial number search. I'm not sure if the lists cover all Buescher instruments or not. They seem to be kind of sax oriented. If they're correct, the horn was made in 1910.

The mouthpiece receiver is small. I can only get a regular tuba mouthpiece about 1/2 inch in. Would that be a European shank size? I'm using a Bach 18 on it. Where can I get a proper fitting mp for it?

The horn plays okay, but not great. I get the sense that the notes aren't slotting in as well as they should. Would that be a worn leaky valve problem? I got a small mirror to check the valve alignment, but haven't actually done it yet. But it is in tune.

If the valves are worn, what is that brand of valve oil that will help a bit? I've seen it mentioned here somewhere.

All in all, it's a pretty spiffy little horn. I like it.

Aaargh. How do you post a picture?

SmartFellerAl wrote: Aaargh. How do you post a picture?

You can try and use the "Upload attachment" tab you see towards the bottom of the page as you write a post, or upload it to photobucket and link it here. If you copy the IMG link, the photo will show up in the post.

Last resort, email it to me and I can do it for you. But then there's that whole thing about giving a man a fish vs....

SmartFellerAl wrote:A month ago, I bought a silver Buescher Eb tuba from an acquaintance for a pretty good price, but I have a couple questions about it.

The mouthpiece receiver is small. I can only get a regular tuba mouthpiece about 1/2 inch in. Would that be a European shank size? I'm using a Bach 18 on it. Where can I get a proper fitting mp for it?

You have probably a small european shank, same size as a bass trombone mouthpiece shank. Dennis Wick mouthpieces DW 1 to DW 5 (the smallest) and without the 'L' in the model name, will probably fit. I had the same issue with my ancient Besson Eb bass. Probably your bass will play best with the smaller sizes 4 or 5.

Okay... here's a picture of it. Thanks, Tubajug.

I have one like yours. I have to pull the main tuning slide out as far as possible to play with others. Is that what you've found?

One of those Denis Wick mouthpieces will probably help a lot but cost you more than you paid for the tuba. I don't have a better idea, but if that isn't an option, maybe you could get a Kelly 25 and sand the shank down until it goes in. You'd want to do that very carefully to get a clean fit.

You can make your own valve oil from unscented "lamp oil" from the hardware store, plus a little motor oil. It works great, and it can be as thick as you want. If the mirror doesn't work out and you have skinny fingers, you may be able to just feel the valves from an adjoining valve with the piston removed.

Hello!

You might want to check out this mouthpiece from Wessex:

http://www.wessex-tubas.co.uk/product/s ... outhpiece/" target="_blank

I just recently asked "Neptune" about small shank mouthpieces for some old three valve E flats I just acquired. These might be a good fit and probably don't cost more than what the tuba did

Regards,
Martin

I have one like yours. I have to pull the main tuning slide out as far as possible to play with others. Is that what you've found?

No, the slide is out about an inch and a quarter. I guess I got lucky. That sure seems like a lot of variation in horns.

You can make your own valve oil from unscented "lamp oil" from the hardware store, plus a little motor oil. It works great, and it can be as thick as you want. If the mirror doesn't work out and you have skinny fingers, you may be able to just feel the valves from an adjoining valve with the piston removed.

Lamp oil and motor oil, eh? I'll give it a shot. Seems like a solution that's age appropriate for the horn!

No skinny fingers here, durnit. I hope the mirror works.

You might want to check out this mouthpiece from Wessex:

Good find! It's not on the U.S. site. I'll drop him a line. I have to order some horns from him for the school I work at anyway. I hope I don't have to order from the UK. Shipping would probably be more than the mouthpiece. I should put in a post in the For Sale forums here, too.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I don't have a lot of resources where I live- repair shops or players. I'm one of the most experienced players here and I sure as hell don't know everything.