5th valve addition

[willthetubaguy]

I'm purchasing a Hirsbrunner horn with 4 valves, is there any way I could get a 5th valve added and how?

[willthetubaguy]

It's a rotary horn.

[oedipoes]

I'm purchasing a Hirsbrunner horn with 4 valves, is there any way I could get a 5th valve added and how?

Yes, but....

You will need the parts and a very competent repair tech / instrument maker.
Depending on your location, this could be more or less difficult.
On my Rudi this involved ordering a valve, linkages and a straight lead-filled leadpipe, and installing the whole thing on my tuba.
I believe the needed parts for your instrument could still be ordered from Peter Hirsbrunner.

Good luck.

[bort]

You need a repairman who is willing to do the work. Many people are not.

[PMeuph]

It would probably cost you close to $2000.00 once you get all the parts and labour factored in.

*I'm sure some of the DIYers have done it for way less (10x?) than that, but that's because they're not paying themselves, buying/reusing old parts and probably underestimating the cost of all the accessories and tools needed.

[DouglasJB]

I tend to use my 5th valve alot, that may be due to the fact that I've grown used to have it.

[tylerferris1213]

I agree with Mark. I play on a 4 valve CC (a 6/4 CCB-601) and I really don't miss the 5th valve. There is a simplicity to a 4 valve CC. I used it in a masterclass with Yasuhito Sugiyama of the Cleveland Orchestra and he had no complaints against it.

[oedipoes]

One of the best tubas I've ever played was a 4 valve hirsbrunner, and it was owned by a former student of mine who used it to audition for one of the DC bands. He made it too.
4 valves worked out just fine for him

ok... but he probably plays a 5-valve CC tuba now?
For me, 4 valves is manageable, and if an instrument comes with 4 valves I can live with that, but 5 is easier...
If I have the choice I go for 5 valves everytime...
As alway, YMMV

[PMeuph]

Are you telling us (between two different threads) that you paid more than $7000 for a 4-valve Hirsbrunner C tuba?

9k?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=84865&p=640046&hili ... er#p640046" target="_blank



...If you're Joe, then I guess that makes me Frank?

[Tom]

Yes, you can add a 5th valve. You'll need the parts, probably a new leadpipe, and most important - someone willing to do the work, which may or may not include actually obtaining the parts for you. Keep in mind that you'll wreck the silver plating on your tuba to do this, but if you actually bought the one in the link above, there is already some plating damage so maybe you don't care, but I'm guessing you do. If I were adding a 5th valve to my Hirsbrunner, I'd go to great lengths to actually get Hirsbrunner parts to do the job, too, so that I ended up with less of a "frankentuba" and more of a "real" Hirsbrunner HB-2 at the end of the day. Should you sell it, I think you'll find more buyers that value real HB parts than if you did the work with parts from another maker.

Personally I wouldn't do it. Believe it or not, some people actually LIKE 4 valve CC tubas and would rather have one than the same model as a five valve. 4 valve Hirsbrunners are unusual (I hesitate to say "rare") and I think you should leave it the way it is - someone will actually want that without wishing it was a 5 valve. There are plenty of 5 valve Hirsbrunners out there, too. They don't just flood the board the way 1291s and PT6s do, but they regularly come along. Not so with 4 valve Hirsbrunners.

Since you don't have any CC tuba experience (you've said elsewhere this is your first tuba) and since you might (???) have purchased this tuba without actually playing it, my suggestion would be to actually get the tuba and play it often for at least several months before you decide to do surgery on it.

Also keep in mind that you don't know what the results will be until the work is done. Maybe it will be great and you'll love it. Maybe not. But either way you won't know until the money has been spent and the work has been done. No way to try before you buy in this kind of scenario.

Some of my very favorite tubas I've ever played have been 4 valve CC tubas and that's what I've had and played exclusively as my CC tuba for the last 11 years. I manage just fine - it can be done. I'm certainly not the first 4 valve CC player nor am I the best, but I know what I like. It is not a handicap, in my opinion, to not have a 5th valve, though most see it that way. Additional valves give you more valve combination options. It's not an automatic low range button nor is it an automatic intonation fixer. If you want to hear what can be done with a 4 valve CC tuba, look into Boston Symphony/Chester Schmitz, Cleveland/Ron Bishop, Cincinnati/Mike Thornton and others. Some will tell you that was a different era and that all of those players moved on to other tubas (with five valves). It was indeed a different era but these guys all could have played 5 valve tubas even during that era or could have added 5th valves to their tubas and didn't. And yet they made some incredible sounds.

[willthetubaguy]

Are you telling us (between two different threads) that you paid more than $7000 for a 4-valve Hirsbrunner C tuba?

9k?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=84865&p=640046&hili ... er#p640046" target="_blank" target="_blank



...If you're Joe, then I guess that makes me Frank?

Yeah, that's what I got but I negotiated to $8000

[willthetubaguy]

Are you telling us (between two different threads) that you paid more than $7000 for a 4-valve Hirsbrunner C tuba?

I paid $8325 for the horn, gig bag, PT-50 and a GW Baer...

[Bnich93]

If you wanted a 5 valve horn then why not buy a 5 valve horn? What will happen if you add a 5th to that horn most likely is that you will have spent $10k on something that you might be able to sell for $6k after the mod. Really think about it and play the horn for a while before you chop it up.

[kontrabasstuba]

Ask directly Peter Hirsbrunner. He want's to see the Horn and he will ship the parts to you.
So your repairman has a easy job. I made it in the last year...
http://www.hirsbrunner.com" target="_blank
Or ask Adams in Thorn/Netherland. He made allthought same parts...