Corks and felts for 2XJ?

[WakinAZ]

Hey there techs and tinkerers,

I used to get pre-made "rebuild kits" (felts, corks and springs) for various horns from a place called The Band Room. It seems that place has gone out of business, or at least no longer has an online presence. Where does one order pre-made kits for a Conn 2xj?

If any of you all are willing to sell me such a thing - PM me.

I'll throw in a few extra bucks to make it worth your time.

Thanks,
Eric

[WakinAZ]

Not all at once now...

On to Plan C. Wade, I'll share any findings with you via PM.

[Kirley]

Me, too! Please.
My 22K is in need.

[Kirley]

Thanks for the tips, Bloke!

[WakinAZ]

Thanks for the DIY tip as always Joe.

I appreciate your point of view as well Wade - I'd rather pay a little more and just get it done.

I'll post any other findings on this thread -for now I'm going to take it to my local repair guy (because I want a cleaning and going over anyway), see what he uses from his commonly available stuff, ask him if he needed to trim it, etc, if he scoped/mirrored,and post any magic combination he finds here.

PS what the heck does Conn/ Selmer use when they make these things? (I believe they are still in production) They must have a supplier.

[WakinAZ]

PPS a famous repair guy down in Tennessee used to make non compressing washers for some models of tuba. I wonder if he still makes those...

[WakinAZ]

Thanks for the additional detailed info.

And I meant "TubeNet famous" btw..

[Kirley]

Conn-Selmer has changed the valve stem. It has a slot cut in it with a retaining ring clipped into place which eliminates the need for the epically-thick cork.

Does this mean if you swap out the old stems with the new ones, you could use their new system? Or are there other parts that would also need to be swapped (caps, buttons, etc.)?

More importantly, is the new style better? I know, too subjective a question for the TNFJ.

[Kirley]

So, does a "regular" size cork and felt slide down the stem and sit on top of that e-clip?

Trying to understand why they switched to this design. Machining an additional groove in the stem and installing an e-clip into said groove had some sort of benefit in the eyes of Conn-Selmer over tall corks.

[Lee Stofer]

The last sousaphone that I ordered while in the Army (1998) was a 20K, which came equipped with fat & fluffy felts sitting on the wretched C-clips. From mechanic days, I know that there are good uses of C-clips, but this is not one of them. This "improvement" allowed Conn-Selmer to slap on a C-clip and a felt, and use no cork whatsoever in the manufacture of the short-action valves. We had 4 tubists in the section at that time, and about two months after the purchase I noticed that towards the end of a ceremony, as we were playing the Pass in Review and marching off the field, one of my tubists was not playing. When I asked him why he wasn't playing, he said, "one of my valves broke!" I took it to check it out, and discovered that the C-clip had broken at the center. Luckily, the pieces had not gouged the casings, so I extracted it, cut Ferree's tube cork and fitted it with felts & corks. The "epic" cork helps deaden a bit of unwanted noise, and properly-regulated Conn short-action valves are really rather quiet and very nice.

On my summer outdoor horn, a 1953 Conn 20J, I have an Allied A-415 (red) felt and an A-1 cork washer under each finger button. Under the top cap, I have layered a Ferree's A-3 (thick) cork, an A-2 (medium) cork, a Valentino (synthetic, from J.L.Smith Co.) 1/64" cork, part #700553, with a Ferree's A-82 (thin white) valve felt on top. With this combination, I don't have to cut anything, just pull it out of the parts drawers and assemble. With this horn, this combination has the valves very precisely aligned, but I hesitate to provide tune-up kits because of what Joe mentioned, the fact that there is so much possibility of variation within any given model of instrument. King tubas are quite consistent in piston valve regulation, but I'm suspicious of anything else.

There is one good thing about the slot in the valve stem for the C-clip - once you remove the clip, the top of the slot shows you exactly how much cork you need to have great valves.

[Kirley]

I found some piccolo head stock cork online, spent about an hour drilling, cutting, sanding (as well as breaking and starting over) and now I have a nicely aligned second valve on my 22K. That was the only valve that was out of alignment. The horn plays much better now. Easier, smoother.

Thanks for the advice, Bloke!

[twoconnguy]

I just make mine from good quality winecorks.