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Some photos of my tuba collection....

You're a fan of bell-front horns! Very cool collection!

I am not too sure about these attachments, as I couldn't post this photo without having to delete the two other ones I posted. This shows the horns with the upright bells. From Left to Right are the Reynolds with recording bell, The Holton BB350 with upright bell, (Built by Lee Stofer), Reynolds with upright bell, (built by Dan Schultz), and the Meinl Weston 25. Then the Reynolds EEb Recording Bass. The Sousaphones are both Reynolds.

Steve

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Hopefully I finally figured out how to post more than one photo without filling up my attachment quota.

Steve

I'm curious how long has it taken you to accumulate these. It seems there could be some good stories about finding some of them.

Of course, you don't have to share any information you don't want to.

Well, this is a long story, but I hope you are correct, and think they are good stories.

My original horn was the second Reynolds sousaphone in the photo. It was given to me by my sister who found it at a rummage sale back in 1977. It was in pretty tough shape, but played very well. I absolutely love to play this horn. It has had significant dent removal done, and is the one I play on the 4th of July and one I take into work at Christmas to play songs through the factory.

I then was given the second Reynolds sousaphone by my band director in 1979. It had been vandalized and had the neck twisted. He was told to get rid of it, so he gave it to me. I eventually had the neck repaired, and it plays as well as the other one.

At this time, I saw a folder supplied by Holton from the mid-60's that pictured our school band playing a beautiful line of sousaphones. At the time, I thought they were the horns from our school. I went on a quest to find out where they all went. One had been taken from the band room several years earlier and covered with paper machete and used as a homecoming float. After investigations, I found the bell from that horn in the garage of a cheerleaders house. She had graduated 4 years earlier, and I was given the bell, but the body of the horn did not survive. I was told it was left at another cheerleaders house and her dad threw it away. This bell is not in the photo. Silver plate outside and gold color inside.

I then did not play for several years after I left high school. I didn't know of opportunities to play, so I just played a few songs by ear now and then, but not with an organized band. It was not until 1989 that a community band was formed here at a local university and my sister dragged me to the rehearsal. It was a week before their first concert, and I had my well dented sousaphone, while the other player had a brand new silver plate Yamaha BB321. The music was pretty easy, and the beautiful sound of the Reynolds was enough to get me hooked again.

In high school, we had Reynolds recording bass's and a Meinl Weston early version BBb that was much like the model 25. I had just lost my mom in 1989 and figured "Why not?!" and ordered a brand new Meinl Weston 25 from Woodwind & Brasswind. This is the 4th from the left horn in the photo. I really love this horn, and played it for the last two Christmas concerts this year.
I played with the community band for two years before I was invited to play with the Kenosha Pop's concert band. I didn't feel I was up to it, and was building a house and had just gotten married, so I passed the first year. Our contractor, George Starkle asked me again the next year, (1994), and I have been playing with them ever since.

I then found a Lyons Monarch 3/4 BBb at a rummage sale for $20 and I played that for quick events and when I wanted something very handy. I sold it this past summer to a friend who has a music store and he was looking for a good horn for his rental fleet. This was the first horn I have sold.

The next horn I acquired was the Beau Ideal 1/2 Eb that was given to me by my plumber who was working on my house when I was building it. He noticed I had tuba's and gave me this one. It plays, but is a challenge. It had been damaged by a "crafter" who intended to paint it. so

The next horn I have was also given to me by a local director. This is my Reynolds recording bass on the left. It was not playable, and they had new St. Petersburg horns. I removed the cheese sandwich from the upper bow, and cleaned it up, and got it playable. Our brass band, the Bell City Brassworks, was playing "Them Basses", and they wanted to put as many players on tuba as they could. I found that this was a great playing horn, and again got hooked on the Reynolds horns.

My next horn was my Holton BB350. (Whole-ton!) This is the horn that I just got back from being overhauled by Lee Stofer. I had been following Dan Oberloh's story on the "Rebirth of a Holton 345" and was very interested in these 6/4 Holton's. It was just a body when I was given it. It had been used at a middle school for 5th-8th graders. Who would give a 6/4 horn to beginners? It was missing the bell, and dented severely. They had no idea where the bell was, and they were going to throw it away. My timing was certainly good on that one. I then went on a search for a bell, and as you can imagine, they are not very plentiful. I talked to Lee about it a few years later, and he suggested that he could put a one piece stack on it if we can't find a bell. I let it sit for a while until the next chapter.

I was asked by a friend from a member of my band if I wanted an EEb bell front. I of course said yes, and that is how I got the Reynolds EEb recording bass on the right. It is played by a member of our brass band, Bell City Brassworks, on occasions and parades.

The next part of the story came fast and furious and again shows how lucky I was in all of this. I had stopped over at my friends music store and was surprised to see "A lot of brass.." laying on the floor in his back room. I just about fell over, there was a recording bell for a Holton 350/355! There was also another BB350 body, and a Reynolds BBb body. They were missing valves and lots of damage, but they were there. I asked what was up with this stuff, and he said, "It's garbage, they are going to scrap!" "Not now they are not, they are mine now!" I tried to tell him that it was a mistake, but he said he only wanted what the scrap value of the brass was. I loaded everything up and took it home. I was able to find valves for the Reynolds, and I asked another friend who was a retiring director at my old high school. I had over 30 years earlier stashed an extra recording bell for a Reynolds, but the school moved in that time. He said, "We just found it today!" They were going to throw it away, so it was quickly picked up.

I then loaded the two Holtons and the Reynolds in the suburban and headed to Lee's place to assess what we had. He repaired the valves on the Reynolds for me, and we agreed to repair the original Holton. I had hoped to trade the others as value for work being performed, but he said he had enough projects, and that I should try to sell the Holton body, I should ask $850 for it. He would give me $550 off of the cost of the repairs if I didn't sell it by the time he was done with my horn. I had several folks who were interested in the Holton body, and I ended up sending it to a fellow tubenet member who did a wonderful rebuild into a 5 valve beauty! (Hopefully Bob can post a photo of his wonderful work). Lee then restored the Holton and built an upright bell as well as restore the recording bell for the horn.

While Lee was working on my Holton, I had a friend who ordered a new lead pipe from Kanstul for the Reynolds and we formed it up to match the other Reynolds I have. We repaired the bottom bow and it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful playing horn. It became my go-to horn as I just love playing it. Dan Schultz then did a wonderful job and built an upright bell, using only photos for measurements, that I can use on this horn to make it more versatile.

I know this is a long story, and if you have gotten this far, thanks. As you can see, I have been very lucky along the way, and with leg work and some significant sweat equity, I have ended up with a collection I am quite proud of.

Steve

All good stories. I can show my wife your pictures so she knows I'm not the only one with MTS.

Yes, thanks for the stories, especially since I asked for it. And quick work writing it too. I would have to think and try to remember where I got some of mine. (various instruments) The ones with family connections have the best memories.

Alfred

edsel585960 wrote:I'm not the only one with MTS.

So TubeNet members have coined another acronym.. I'm fairly sure that "BAT" can be attributed to TubeNet. It's been so many years that the term "BAT" has come into common usage--even appearing in manufacturer's or retailer's official product lists. TubeNet itself has been around that long (approximately 20 years if "old TubeNet" is included?).

I too picked up on and heartily support the MTS acronym. I can now just let my wife know that it is a known condition and I am not unique.

I unfortunately have some level of hoarding disease anyway as I also collect Lionel trains (no idea how many), and my son and I collect and restore antique outboard motors. (almost 70 motors,,,, ) boats........

Steve