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Since I'm about to move, buy a house and get married in the next three months, spending money on a double that has nothing to do with my new job as a trombonist truly ranks right up there in the Mudman's Folly category!

At least this is safer than the old motorcycles I like to fix and ride. Nobody gets killed when you use duct tape on a tuba . . .

Looks like great work!

Also, thanks for adding the spit valve to the 4th slide. For some reason, that tube collected a ton of water. I was constantly dumping it.

I am jealous 1) because it's NOT mine, 2) at the amazing work Bloke has done 3) because I doubt I will ever get a chance to have the same thing done (unless I hit the pick 6)

Looks like a great horn - a situation where a little ingenuity paid off well.

What exactly is different about the York bell? What modifications would you recommend to Conn to get similar results on all of their 52Js or 56Js?

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Should've lengthened it to BBb while you were at it....heehee.

winston wrote:Bloke, are you selling this?

It isn't bloke's tuba. It belongs to Mudman.

Bloke combined the York body with Mudman's (posted above) Conn 52J after Mudman purchased the body on ebay.

What exactly is different about the York bell?

If you take a look at the latest Tuba Journal(yeah I know), there's a lengthy excerpt from a dissertation about York tubas that might shed some light on why they sound and play as good as they do. The guy takes a similar aged/sized York and Conn, and does quite a thorough study of the differences. Basically, according to him, it's about the consistency of the bore taper on the York.

bloke wrote: If you've ever blown sounds through any 4/4 York tuba bell (whether mounted on an original York instrument, grafted on to another tuba body, or even on an old "attic" instrument with leaks and bad dents...Eb or BBb or CC)

There were several flavors of the basic bell. The old pre-turn of the century (J.W. York and Son) ones were heavier and the BBb used the same wide bell as the Eb. Later on, the BBb bell got taller and shrunk to about 18" in diameter--and IMOHO, was not an improvement.

I have heard that the Pop Johnson used to hang the sheets of raw brass from the rafters and hit them with a hammer to determine if they were suitable for tuba bells or not.

I don't know if it's true but I like the story.

a conn/york tuba.

would this be a yonn or a cork?

In any case, it sure looks cool.


Tabor

bloke wrote: In reality, its a Kink.

King 2341 designed valveset, Conn label, York Bell = KiCK

Bloke is about the only poster on this forum who regularly makes me laugh out loud.***(Please see the disclaimer four posts down.)

I realize I'm nowhere near an expert on this topic, but I have a really hard time believing that there was "something" that gave the York bells their characteristic sound that "can't" be duplicated. Building a tuba bell isn't the same thing as what went into a Stradivarius (which really can't be duplicated).

bloke wrote:Regarding a project that I've yet to finish...I spliced one of those "tall" 18-inch diameter York bells on to a (B&M - German-made) 4V "York Master"...Of course, I had to chop of the bottom coupla inches of the small end of the bell to fit the YM bottom bow...

You were cutting that YM to C, as I recall, so some shortening was no problem. I haven't found a York bell that would fit into the bell ferrule and be long enough to keep the TM a BBb instrument.

Actually, a Miraphone 186 bell would come close to fitting, if you trimmed several inches off the narrow end. It would have a much better taper to a larger throat, which would be good. But it would not have the larger bell. The sound would probably be a bit more like B&M was accustomed to, and less like a Grand Rapids York.

I do think the YM would be improved with a bell stack that had more taper and a larger throat.

Rick "who hasn't found a suitable bell to try" Denney

By the way, on re-reading my previous comment (about bloke making me laugh out loud), I realized that it could be taken two ways.

What I MEANT was that his jokes make me laugh out loud, including his pictures of the York Master and the York Bastard.

I did NOT mean that his opinions make me laugh out loud. I didn't realize until I re-read it that it could be taken that way. He obviously knows his stuff.

Rick Denney wrote:You were cutting that YM to C, as I recall, so some shortening was no problem. I haven't found a York bell that would fit into the bell ferrule and be long enough to keep the TM a BBb instrument.Denney

I used the GR York bottom bow as well as the bell on my YM-to-CC conversion. Worked very well and the result is a very sweet horn. I left the 4th slide on the back of the horn, which was a mistake, however--it's more than little uncomfortable at times, so I'll move it one of these days--probably when I add the 5th valve.

I suspect a BBb Keefer bell wouild work just fine as a replacement on the original YM, but they aren't really common--and the Keefer BBb is a pretty good horn without canibalizing it.

bloke wrote: York Master __________________ York Bastard

I think they are labeled wrong. Given the discussion thus far The YM sounds like the bastard...