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Anyone that has done this conversion before want to pitch a few words on the process and methods of building? I've got a 20J which I've realized that this method might be easier in the long run than finding an upright bell for it. I've never done this type of building, but I'd love to learn how. Or, if not to do it myself, then to see if there are people who might do the conversion for a reasonable price.

The most difficult part will be locating an upright bell that will fit, both in throat diameter and height.

I'm not as familiar with Conn as with other makes, but factory upright detachable bells show up from time to time on eBay. Kanstul used to make one, but is now out of business - although I believe they sold their tooling to a concern in the Midwest?

As to technicians, in Ohio, you can't do better than J. c. Sherman:

http://www.jcsherman.net/" target="_blank

A member here had one made. He posted a picture of it but it was four or five years ago.

The tech took the 20J recording bell and cut it off right before it made the curve. The, the tenon was taken off the recording bell and a brass piece was made that would be the diameter of the tenon on one end and the diameter of the bell flare on the other. The height was calculated so it would b the same as the total length of the recording bell from tenon to the rim. This piece would be conical and would be an upright bell when finished. I don't know how much this wold cost and who could do it. I do know that a Conn factory upright bell is quite expensive when purchased alone. One way of finding one could be to make a search on eBay so they would send you an e-mail when such a thing (upright bell or a 21J or 25J which have upright bells.) comes up for bid.

Yes. That is like was described by a user here a few years ago.

Not real difficult. Use your existing recording bell flare and tenon and roll a piece of sheet brass to make the stack.

Original 20J upright bell -w- case
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Conn-20J-Uprig ... %7Ciid%3A1

I did the opposite: when I first got my 186, it had a detachable upright bell. Vince at Tuba Exchange had taken the collar off the stock recording bell and grafted it onto a truncated St Pete bell. Well, it was good enough, but too short. So Tuba Tinker had to lengthen the main tuning slide. I also got ahold of a second main tuning slide and another collar, as I had Vince send me the recording bell as well. I used both, depending on the gig, until I figured out the collar was in exactly the wrong place and interfered with the intonation of first ledger line Eb. I had a spare Besson hulk from when I had a Besson 17-inch New Standard 3-valve comp, so I had my local tech measure and swap the detachable bell stack for the Besson bell and created my own Frankenstein "Bessophone." The Besson bell worked with my lengthened tuning slide, so no other issues. I love the tone and intonation after the swap. Lucky accident: the addition of the cylindrical tubing at the tuning slide almost completely cured the "flat fifth partial" inherent with almost all Miraphones, especially 186's. The rest is history:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=61956" target="_blank

The Big Ben wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2020 4:08 pm A member here had one made. He posted a picture of it but it was four or five years ago.

The tech took the 20J recording bell and cut it off right before it made the curve. The, the tenon was taken off the recording bell and a brass piece was made that would be the diameter of the tenon on one end and the diameter of the bell flare on the other. The height was calculated so it would b the same as the total length of the recording bell from tenon to the rim. This piece would be conical and would be an upright bell when finished. I don't know how much this wold cost and who could do it. I do know that a Conn factory upright bell is quite expensive when purchased alone. One way of finding one could be to make a search on eBay so they would send you an e-mail when such a thing (upright bell or a 21J or 25J which have upright bells.) comes up for bid.

Is there a picture of this somewhere?