My frankentuba project (conn/York Eb)

[cambrook]

It's hard to be sure from photos, but it looks like the FA valveset will sit in front of the horn and not have to fit into the interior space you're worried about. The potential issue with clearance at the bottom of the valves could be alleviated by making the valve section removable? It looks like you might have to revise the layout of your 5th valve, but I'm sure that's manageable.

The good thing is that it appears you can put them together temporarily to see how it works, if you don't think it's worth pursuing you can put them both back to original. It would only cost you the time, there shouldn't need to be anything irreversible done to either horn.

[UDELBR]

Why not get the valve set Bloke has helped make available, trim it to Eb (not a big deal) and stick it on?

[roweenie]

Why would you want to chop up your front action horn? Those little Eb Conns are pretty nice horns, and you did such a swell job adding a 5th valve too.

Besides, I don't think you will gain all that much in the swap. If you want to make something out of the new horn, get a 4J or 5J .656 valveset, and leave the other horn alone.

My .02, FWIW

[UDELBR]

that was actually my first thought when I went to go look at the horn, but the bore size is WAY different.

this horn is 625, the valve set starts at 748 and is .807 by the time it leave the 5th valve. That could cause a problem

Put the new valve section in later, where the horn measures .807. And if that's in an inconvenient place (midway through a bow for example) have someone make the last conical section for you. Again: not a big deal.

(Caveat emptor though: NO guarantees re: intonation. That also applies to big firms like Meinl-Weston, who told me that 3/4 of their prototypes are awful, and are taken apart to make new prototypes.)

[roweenie]

I'm sure Meinlschmidt makes rotors that small (either 15.5 or 16mm)

[Heliconer]

still kicking this project around

I took the leadpipe and the valve section off the large horns today. The good news is, the finish is really nice under the leadpipe, so I could use it as a front action tuba by turning the bell 180 degrees and it would still look nice

I found a way to make my valve section of my small conn removable, so this is what I'm thinking..

1 take apart the smaller conn enough that I can put the valve section and leadpipe on the larger body and see how close it is pitch wise (both in tune with itself and overall pitch

2. If it's bad, put the small conn back together, but pay somebody to fix a few things I can tell are wrong with the assembly the way it is now

3. If it's good, pay somebody to assemble the horn into a brand new creation. It's risky, because I could sell the small conn as is and put that money toward a new horn. If it has to be cut and the new product isn't any good, I've lost the horn forever

I'm hoping the mock up will tell me what I need to know

+1 for mocking up first.

Personally, if it needs to be cut I would stop, put everything back together, and sell the horn for a replacement.

[Tabor]

Hold the presses. Just acquired a 4 valve york front action valveset, and enough extra tubing to use on the larger tuba, and I can restore the smaller one the way it was (or better because I fixed some issues)

Thanks Tabor for helping me save both tubas!

More later

You are welcome. It is going to be a bigger project now, but perhaps you'll have a pair of front action Eb tubas instead of one.

[UDELBR]

If I want to change the pitch from Low E to F, how much should I plan on cutting? 10 inches?

Look at your 2nd valve loop. That's about how much you're looking to cut (or probably a little more, but only after checking).

[UDELBR]

Tubas are pretty forgiving! A 1 mm error isn't a huge deal on a 19 mm bore. But it's a disaster on a trumpet.

[Heliconer]

OK the experiment to put it in F was a disaster. Never played a more out of tune tuba. The good news is I found this out before I cut into the body

So I put the longer leadpipe back on, extended the tuning slide with a loop, and it's in Eb now. Pretty solid Eb, very acceptable tuning up and down, and when the slides are pulled, even the valve section is fine. Now I have to decide when and if I'm going to get the valve section replated, and what I'm going to do about a 5th valve.

What is the bore? I have a miraphone 183 Valveset (missing one rotor, and the slide crooks) I'd be willing to part ways with.

[Tubajug]

What are you going to do with two 5- valve Eb tubas?

[Heliconer]

Played the horn last night. Intonation and tone are really good, but the valves don't have much compression, so I'm going to send the valve section to Andersons, along with some small parts I want to make silver

This thing is practically "the horn that tubenet built"

I got the body from AlexC, the valves and other tubing from Tabor, the 5th valve from heliconer, unclebeer shaped the leadpipe, getting the thumb ring and maybe some outer tubing from york-aholic, not to mention soldering advice from Annienorm (Norm Epley) , Joe and Dan over the years.

Thanks guys, literally could not have done it without you

"The Horn that Tubenet built" love it!

[Tubajug]

Awesome!

[opus37]

Try the add mineral oil or gun oil to lamp oil until it is thick enough trick.

[UDELBR]

Valve alignment's OK? It's worth checking with an endoscope.

[UDELBR]

All these cheap endoscopes come with a screw-on 90 degree mirror: https://goo.gl/ffKNmr

[Tubajug]

Had you already lengthened the valve circuits or are you just going to live them pulled out?

[Tubajug]

Oooooohhh.......Aaaaaaahhhhh......

[Tubajug]

Great job Mark! I'm hoping to build a 4 or 5 valve Eb horn in the near future as well! What size rotor did you use? I'm planning on using a .656 bore piston set from a Conn 12J.

[oedipoes]

I've done 3 orchestra concerts in a row that called for mute, and I'm getting sick of it.

Maybe Tubenet could lobby with composers to keep mutes for trumpets and trombones and leave the tubaplayers alone?
As if carrying around a big tuba isn't enough of a hassle...
The test piece on this year's brassband championship called for a cup mute for Eb tuba for 2 bars, we refused!
Blind jury, not audible, nobody else noticed, end of story.

(nice project tuba btw )