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1) I'm desperately in need of a better mouthpiece for this horn. Can anyone recommend a decent European small shank mouthpiece for a small Eb tuba? I have found one made by Denis Wick but the mouthpiece itself would be worth more than the instrument, so I'd rather purchase it as a last resort.

2) How much would it roughly cost to repair a small 2 inch crack on the bell? The crack doesn't create a problem besides it creating a vibrating noise on G#4.

3) What can 3 valved Eb tuba be used for besides maybe Symphonie Fantastique and Pétrouchka, as I find it can neither play low enough or loud enough to be used in a concert band, but I have used it for some trombone solos in my band.

4) Is it possible to get a fourth valve added to the instrument, if so how much would it roughly cost to be installed?

Wessex makes a small shank mouthpiece that is reasonably priced.

The cost to fix a crack and add a valve is dependent on the crack. Adding the valve is another deal. You likely will spend less money and end up with a better horn if you just purchase a new Wessex, Parker or Mack Brass horn in the configuration you desire.

Have a look at the Dennis Wick 5 classic mouthpiece, it's not expensive, and has a small European shank. If you want to go larger, there is the number 4 as well. Stay away form the 5L or 4L, these are large shank.

Even a Wick 3 (not 3L, as posted above) would have a medium diameter cup that would be deep enough to bring out good tones out of an Eb tuba, (it was standard kit with Besson Eb tubas for years) depending on the overall taper of the bugle so the deep cup didn't cause it to go flat in the upper registers.

Triggerfish wrote:1) I'm desperately in need of a better mouthpiece for this horn. Can anyone recommend a decent European small shank mouthpiece for a small Eb tuba? I have found one made by Denis Wick but the mouthpiece itself would be worth more than the instrument, so I'd rather purchase it as a last resort.

One of the purveyors of Chinese stuff, Wessex, offers a small shank mouthpiece for around £30, or might be less as you wouldn't be paying VAT. Their site says "available on backorder", I don't know which it would be - available, or on backorder?

I haven't tried this, but ... wonder if it would be practical to buy a Kelly 25 polycarbonate mouthpiece and reduce the shank? No lathe required, just wrap it with sandpaper and start turning. Try it in the receiver once in a while to make sure you're maintaining the right taper. Use finer grit when you're close. If it works, it might work better than the Denis Wick -- there are actually some range of small European receivers. The odds are good that the Denis Wick shank will fit OK, but can't say for sure unless you've checked with a large shank trombone mouthpiece.

Which brings us to large shank trombone mouthpieces. If you can get by with a 1½G size bass trombone mouthpiece, Kelly makes that too. There are much bigger bass trombone mouthpieces, maybe available 2nd hand from someone who has come to his senses and is going back to normal size.

I've gone through three approaches on my 1924 Eb horn:

• Wick 5 -- worked pretty well and fit perfectly
  
  Kelly 25 with its shank sanded down -- worked pretty well and fit well enough; also cheap
  
  My TU-17 mouthpiece and one of the last adapters that Matt Walters made to adapt standard large shank to the small Euro shank.

The Wick 5 worked better than the Kelly 25, but the TU-17 with the adapter works the best, in terms of sound quality and intonation. Unless for some reason you want to keep the horn "original", I'd put a standard receiver on it.

I did not have good luck with a variety of bass/contrabass trombone mouthpieces. It made the horn sound a lot like, er ..., a bass trombone with some sort of lung disease.

I have found that my 3-valve Eb (with good false tones) plays low enough to handle at least 90% of the concert band pieces I encounter. By itself it won't support a concert band, but it's otherwise perfectly useable. I tend to use it on "patriotic" occasions. It's also a lot lighter than my Wessex compensating horn.

I actually have a denis wick 3 that I bought by mistake a few years ago if you are in need of one.