York Eb
Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 11:24 am
Here's my new-old York Eb tuba - a wonderful conversion and restoration job by master-craftsman Bret Gustafson. Thanks also to Mike Johnson for selling me the project!
It's not the usual York Monster body, this has an 18" bell which loved the first time I saw a photo of the body. To me the flare looks organic and "just right". I remember talking to Dan Oberloh when I first bought the horn and he knew the model number and vintage of the horn, perhaps he'll chime in and tell me
It was originally a 3V top action, I don't know the model number. I've looked up the serial number from the original valveset and Horn-u-copia says that corresponds to a York mellophone, so I don't know what's going on there.
It has a valveset from a King Eb sousaphone, and a Meinlschmidt rotor. Bret did some work on the valveset, changing the knuckles on 1st and 4th casings to allow the layout to work comfortably, and then it was shipped to Andersons for Dave to work his magic on the valves.
Unlike some older York the brass is in excellent condition and hasn't had too much buffing. The engraving on the bell was faint from polishing/buffing over the years, so Bret asked Ray Hood (FB - London Engraver) to go over the original lines and restore the engraving. Ray did this all by hand - if you scroll down the London Engraver FB page to 24 April 2015 you'll see photos of him at work. Fabulous work from another master craftsman!
Interestingly, Bret was able to re-bend the original lead-pipe. We decided to make it removable so there's the option of experimenting with other tapers in the future. For the moment I'm just looking forward to playing it!
It's not the usual York Monster body, this has an 18" bell which loved the first time I saw a photo of the body. To me the flare looks organic and "just right". I remember talking to Dan Oberloh when I first bought the horn and he knew the model number and vintage of the horn, perhaps he'll chime in and tell me
It was originally a 3V top action, I don't know the model number. I've looked up the serial number from the original valveset and Horn-u-copia says that corresponds to a York mellophone, so I don't know what's going on there.
It has a valveset from a King Eb sousaphone, and a Meinlschmidt rotor. Bret did some work on the valveset, changing the knuckles on 1st and 4th casings to allow the layout to work comfortably, and then it was shipped to Andersons for Dave to work his magic on the valves.
Unlike some older York the brass is in excellent condition and hasn't had too much buffing. The engraving on the bell was faint from polishing/buffing over the years, so Bret asked Ray Hood (FB - London Engraver) to go over the original lines and restore the engraving. Ray did this all by hand - if you scroll down the London Engraver FB page to 24 April 2015 you'll see photos of him at work. Fabulous work from another master craftsman!
Interestingly, Bret was able to re-bend the original lead-pipe. We decided to make it removable so there's the option of experimenting with other tapers in the future. For the moment I'm just looking forward to playing it!
