Bell Repair

[Thom]

Just notice a 10J on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONN-TUBA-H2715 ... SwcUBYVCFB" target="_blank

where the bell has a strip soldered along right at the beginning of the main flare, apparently to repair some tears and reinforce a weak bell.
I am curious what effect this would have on the tone produced by the bell.

[Uncle Markie]

I would pass on this unless you have a good 10J bell around the house somewhere. This repair job looks pretty amateurish. The 10J is a nice compact little horn and plays pretty well in tune as long as you do not have to play very loud. That patch and the hunk of solder that goes with it can't be helping.

[Thom]

Thanks for the response. I wasn't planning on bidding on the horn, but curious about the effect on tone. I would think that the extra thickness and accompanying solder would dampen the tone.
If such a repair were necessary, would it be better to splice in a band of brass rather than reinforcing the damaged section?

[Donn]

To me, it looks like the band is holding on the bell flare. Looking inside the bell, you can see the joint. If you're working with ordinary solder, I suppose it's really the only way to make a clean, reliable joint.

Effect on tone? When you have a perfectly good tuba that doesn't need a band like that, but you put it on anyway, then it stabilizes the tone, darkens it and adds core and weight. If you needed for a repair, then unfortunately it doesn't do anything.

In the present case, where the bell flare was evidently replaced and then pancaked, we have eloquent testimony as to how great a tuba this is, really loved to death.

[TUbajohn20J]

Another question on bell repair. I have a 10J with some tiny cracks in the bell from being crushed at one point. It has been straightened but they didn't patch the cracks. Is it possible to fill in the cracks with metal rather than cover up with ugly patches?

[edsel585960]

Another question on bell repair. I have a 10J with some tiny cracks in the bell from being crushed at one point. It has been straightened but they didn't patch the cracks. Is it possible to fill in the cracks with metal rather than cover up with ugly patches?

I'm sure the pros will cringe but I solder the small cracks then grind them smooth with a Drexel. A drop of good paint and it's barely noticeable.

[TUbajohn20J]

Another question on bell repair. I have a 10J with some tiny cracks in the bell from being crushed at one point. It has been straightened but they didn't patch the cracks. Is it possible to fill in the cracks with metal rather than cover up with ugly patches?

I'm sure the pros will cringe but I solder the small cracks then grind them smooth with a Drexel. A drop of good paint and it's barely noticeable.

I was thinking something along those lines would work too! Thanks. I just hate ugly patches on the bell. Much rather just fill in the cracks and grind smooth. It's getting buffed and relaquered some day and I don't want big patches on a new looking horn.

[Donn]

Speaking purely from ignorance, here, but high temperature silver solder might be something to look into.

[edsel585960]

Another question on bell repair. I have a 10J with some tiny cracks in the bell from being crushed at one point. It has been straightened but they didn't patch the cracks. Is it possible to fill in the cracks with metal rather than cover up with ugly patches?

I'm sure the pros will cringe but I solder the small cracks then grind them smooth with a Dremel. A drop of gold paint and it's barely noticeable.

I was thinking something along those lines would work too! Thanks. I just hate ugly patches on the bell. Much rather just fill in the cracks and grind smooth. It's getting buffed and relaquered some day and I don't want big patches on a new looking horn.

I meant Dremel and gold paint. Proofreading is a lost art.

[Donn]

After reviewing past Tubenet lore on this matter ... high temperature silver solder might not be something to look into, after all. Skill requirements apparently go up along with the temperature.

[Dan Schultz]

After reviewing past Tubenet lore on this matter ... high temperature silver solder might not be something to look into, after all. Skill requirements apparently go up along with the temperature.

Agreed. I often silver-solder small cracks or holes but a repair of this size and with regard to the value of the horn... is not something I would attempt. A good used bell might be found but there are several other horns that use this bell and they are in short supply. If I was serious about getting this horn going... I might be tempted to use the flare off another horn and just put it on the existing stack with an overlap seam of soft-solder.

[Donn]

If I was serious about getting this horn going... I might be tempted to use the flare off another horn and just put it on the existing stack with an overlap seam of soft-solder.

The plot thickens! Two different 10Js in the this thread, the way I read it. The second one has cracks in the bell ... and the first one looks like someone has made the very repair Dan recommends above, grafting a bell flare on it? (And then of course proceeding to beat the snot out of it.) Some kind of disturbing recursion going on here.