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Oops. Was overly broad on my initial discussion.
My son informed me that the big Conn is flat at F.
If tuned to play F then it's flat at Bb.

Does this change any of the earlier advice?

A flat F below the staff is a common complaint about large Conn tubas from that era, especially the short action 2XJs. I haven't heard of a satisfactory fix for this issue, other than lipping up. In practice I have found that F and other notes in that partial to be workable.

Brassdad wrote:My son informed me that the big Conn is flat at F. If tuned to play F then it's flat at Bb.

Is that right? Seems like to bring F up you'd have to push it in, and that should make Bb sharp...

windshieldbug wrote:

Brassdad wrote:My son informed me that the big Conn is flat at F. If tuned to play F then it's flat at Bb.

Is that right? Seems like to bring F up you'd have to push it in, and that should make Bb sharp...

You are correct, I didn't notice that part of his post. If you tune the F to be in tune, the Bb above it should end up sharp.

Obviously the "old man" isn't as Sharp as I used to be. Mayhaps he said it would play brong at B when played correctly at F.
is there a fix to this? I am certian the plating needs redone on the valses with the lack of "pop" at the first slide. If the slide was also cut as was discussed in the original post would the flat F/B sharp still be in effect?

Does he just need to learn to "lip up"?

Thanks to all on this assist.

From what you are describing, it is the horn's overtone series that is at fault, and I am not sure of a reliable way to fix that. I doubt that replating or cutting the horn will correct it. From posts I've read over time, you have come to the right place for advice, if it exists, for this problem. Personally, I'd be tempted to take the horn with me to someplace that there were a lot of mouthpieces, and see if they have any effect on the intonation before I changed my mode of playing (always "lipping" some notes).

Brassdad wrote:Does he just need to learn to "lip up"?

During the time that I owned a Conn 20J, I played the flat third-partial F using the 1-3 valve combination, instead of open. The E wasn't as bad nor as often played, and by the Eb it was fine.

Rick "who thought this was one of the easier 20J tuning problems to fix" Denney

On my turn-of-the-century York euphonium, I always use 1 and 3 for the F, and often resort to just 3 for the G...it's not perfect, just closer.