Ok, well, as a follow up, I bought the instrument, fairly cheap. It's not in bad shape, but there was a reason I asked the question about cleaning. When I washed it out, I got a pile of flies and those dried green algae flakes. On the second flush, I got a dead mouse. Just saying, sometimes you need to really clean your ax, and more lamp fluid isn't what it needs (unless you also have a match).
Everything works except the 3rd valve slide, which is the hardest to access, and just seems stuck. I see one solder joint that may be broken. It's a BBb, and plays nearly in tune (a bit flat) with the caveat that all I have is a std American shank mouthpiece (he delivered it with a tulip shaped Schilke 66 with std American shank). A bass trombone mouthpiece fits (Yamaha 60L) and actually plays, but the instrument needs a bigger piece for the lower notes. The S links work ok, but they're kinda noisy. Valves are ok, and I think will stop sticking with lubrication, cleaning, and use. The ferrule going from the lead pipe into the first valve may have a crack in it.
The big flattened screws in the valve spindles seem to be a clue for the age of the horn. I've never seen that type feature before. Notice one is not original.
One really interesting feature is the V insert in the bell. You can see it pretty clearly in one of the dropbox pix. It is a 2 piece bell, but not in the way that most 2 piece trombone bells are made. Probably the bell was made from a sheet of brass of limited size, and had to be made in this way.
Link to dropbox pix:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rid5ulnn6xuk ... Cef4a?dl=0" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
Here's the story from the former owner: he said initially that this was made "when Sousa was a pup"... but since that would put it around 1900, I kinda doubt that story. Plus, there doesn't seem to be anything to back that up. I think it came from the early 1960s or maybe 50s. The owner bought it in 1966 from Walter Sear in NYC. Walter pulled it out of a closet, and it was kind of banged up, dusty, no lacquer, badly soldered. He described it as "a handmade Alexander copy", with no real evidence to confirm that aside from the fact that it has no brand markings on it. Played through 4 years at Berklee. In the 1970s it went to Giardinelli's for a makeover - remove dents, fix soldering, lacquer, etc. and has sat in a closet/barn ever since (hence the mouse). The lacquer is kind of dark, and definitely thinning.
From research here on the Tubenet, we know Walter Sear was among other things, a tuba developer and importer. It has been said that all the rotary instruments he sold were Cerveny, but he also sold Mahillon and DePrins. This tuba looks most like a modern Cerveny 686, 781 or 691, in the curves of the lead pipe and mts. I haven't found anything matching it's 3rd/4th valve wraps.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38988&p=340682&hili ... ar#p340682" target="_blank
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62796&p=522096&hili ... ar#p522096" target="_blank
Some dimensions:
lead pipe ID at the opening: 0.546"
ID of 2nd valve slide: 0.759"
bell dia : 17.75"
overall height: 38"
weight (on bathroom scales): 17#
My guess is that Sear was doing some experimenting with design, and this was the result of putting some parts together. Likely Cerveny parts.
I plan to redo the linkages, and at least disassemble and clean/lube the levers/springs. The water key cork looks good, as do the valve bumpers. I need to check the valve alignment, and I'll probably disassemble/clean the valves as well. The sound is pretty good on most notes. I'm not a great tuba player, so I won't count the fact that I can't get notes below low F as a fault of the horn, it's definitely the player and the mal-fitting mouthpiece. Based on what I've already taken out of it, I'm going to have to clean this thing in the yard.
Also I want to get a proper mouthpiece that fits. Recommendations?
very helpful posts:
viewtopic.php?t=10390" target="_blank
https://www.kellymouthpieces.com/shanks/index.asp" target="_blank
As a trombone player, it is fun to play so far.
Any further comments about what I'm getting myself into here?