Modifications you've done or had done...

[Dan Schultz]

Nice!

[roweenie]

Thanks guys!

Believe it or not, there was very little, if any, cutting required - the MTS was the type located before the valves, and the horn was already built in high pitch to begin with.

[roweenie]

Thanks, bloke!

Negative on the bell - it's a 17 3/4" Miraclone bell, obtained from one of the importers operating here in the U.S.

The one you did see (which is marvelous, BTW ) is being used at present in a different application....

[Tabor]

Really nice part choices, really good thought going into it, and really nice work. That tuba is beautiful.

[roweenie]

Thanks, Tabor!

I worked from some pictures of a few CC Yorks I've seen - I was trying to get it to look as accurate as I could.....

What's news from your bench these days?

[Tabor]

I have a few projects going on, but the fun one is an F tuba. I have a York CC in the works but no timeline.

[roweenie]

Excellent!

[Michael Bush]

I've fiddled around for years, slowly trying to learn some things. Quite a while back I got to where I was doing small soldering jobs, reattaching thumb rings and braces, adding a brace. Mostly I practiced cutting and soldering on junk.

In the last couple of days I seriously modified a tuba with my own torch for the first time. I removed the lead pipe from a Tuba Exchange branded 410 CC, filled it with Palmolive and froze it. Then last night I bent it a little more and reattached it, soldering it directly to the bell.

I know that's the opposite of the usual mod, but this horn rang in the low register like some sousaphones do. With this change is resonates somewhat like the Rudy. So I'd call it a success.

Still have to clean up the solder some before a picture will be in order.

[Michael Bush]

How'd the bend turn out? Did you have to hammer-down any ripples in the brass?

I wouldn't have known how to do that if I had. In fact, I'm not sure I bent it all that much. I went through the steps of freezing it and so on, and I held it against the bell and sort of pushed and pulled at it until it didn't have a gap. No ripples appeared, but in reality it may be (probably is) that the net change to the pipe was negligible.

[Stipe]

Just swapped the silicone bumpers on rotary valves (Yamaha YBB-641) with a harder rubber.
Not much of a change, but it makes a huge difference in action (and speed). And it even doesn't make much more noise...

[roweenie]

Just swapped the silicone bumpers on rotary valves (Yamaha YBB-641) with a harder rubber.
Not much of a change, but it makes a huge difference in action (and speed). And it even doesn't make much more noise...

Well done!

It's always a good feeling to accomplish something on one's own.

[TheGoyWonder]

On a large Reynolds BBb tuba, I had the small leadpipe (.505" starting outer diameter) swapped with a modified A222 leadpipe (normal, .590" starting outer diameter). It played a lot differently, very smooth.

[emena02]

I play a Willson 3050 FA-5 CC with a few mods

1.) PVAK - great alignment and no need to change out felts every so often

2.) Floating Leadpipe - leadpipe was lifted off of the bell, making the horn a lot more nimble, resonance, and responsive!

3.) Bore Gap Adjustment - Alan Baer adjusted the space between the end of the mouthpiece (standard) shank and the start of the leadpipe! This improved the overall response of the horn

4.) Cryogenic Freeze - my horn was cryogenic-ally frozen What this supposedly does is realign the molecules in the metal, de-stressing the horn and considerably improving the overall response, especially at very soft and loud dynamics!

5.) Main Tuning Slide Modification - the bore size on the small end of main tuning slide is much smaller than the bore size leading into the 1st valve, which is why 3050's are known to play very stuffy and constricted. The bore was machined out to be more in line with the rest of the instrument, drastically improving the overall playability of the instrument!

Now I'm just waiting on Joe to get his light weight piston valve buttons back on the market, and on Martin to make some MAW Valves for this thing!

[roweenie]

Adding a 5th valve to a Conn 4J

[roweenie]

Voigt Brass made the thumb ring, not me -

http://www.voigt-brass.de/gxshop/produc ... kugel.html" target="_blank

I'm still trying to figure out how much to remove off of the way-too-long 3rd valve circuit - it measures 46 1/2" at present... (the 2nd valve circuit measures 13 1/4", if that helps....)

[Tabor]

Bob, I like seeing your work. Looks very nice.

Is that 4th run the tubing from which you wanted to remove inner spacer tubing?

[bort]

Voigt Brass...

Argh, Bob, why did you have to show me that Website... I'm in trouble...

[roweenie]

Thanks for your kind words, Tabor - no, I had a scrap piece of tubing I wanted to use elsewhere, but I think I know where in the 4th valve circuit you were thinking of....

Argh, Bob, why did you have to show me that Website... I'm in trouble...

Sorry........?

[roweenie]

Yes, I think that's a good estimate. Actually, I'm going to wait until it's all put together, and check it against a tuner.

I was trying (operative word trying) to use the formulas contained in Art Hovey's excellent website, but unfortunately my math (algebra in particular) skills aren't quite so excellent.....

[MikeMason]

On my wiseman: larger bell to body brace- original too small and smushed in to bell in shipping,2 small braces on leadpipe- it was a bit too wiggly for me to feel good about carrying in a dent bag, MAW valves- I have never had smoother valves. Horn plays marginally better, but the feel is like heaven. My 2j is having a fifth valve added right now.