Conn short action valve aligment.

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scafo
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Conn short action valve aligment.

Post by scafo »

hello forum,
the second valve on my conn 24j (1968) in´t aligned very well (horizontal alignement, not vertical)....
i would like to correct it. Who knows if it is possible to adjust the the upper ring with the groove? is it soldered?
I would like to attach a photo, but it doesn't seem to work.
Thanks for your advices!
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Dan Schultz
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Re: Conn short action valve aligment.

Post by Dan Schultz »

If you are speaking of rotational alignment... I've never encountered that problem on a Conn short-action tuba or sousaphone. The location of the vertical pin is what determines the orientation of the piston. Those pins are soldered into a hole in the cap that has the key. I suppose it's possible that the factory didn't drill the hole for the pin slightly off but I've never seen that. I'm not certain if the ring containing the slot on top of the casing is solder to the casing or not but then again... I've never seen that issue. All that being said... Conn-Selmer and Allied have parts for those horns.
Dan Schultz
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Current 'stable'... Rudolf Meinl 5/4, Marzan (by Willson) euph, King 2341, Alphorn, and other strange stuff.
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iiipopes
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Re: Conn short action valve aligment.

Post by iiipopes »

What Dan said. since 2XJ tubas have not been made in decades, is it possible that the valve in question is a replacement from another horn, another time, another valve block, a different numbered valve? As I recall, on the top of the valve underneath the felt and cork should be an index number on each valve, and each of those numbers should be consecutive. If they aren't, then you may have a mis-match or replacement situation.

If this is the case, I don't know how to fix it. You will need to ask Dan directly.
Jupiter JTU1110, RT-82.
"Real" Conn 36K.
scafo
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Re: Conn short action valve aligment.

Post by scafo »

Thank you for your replys! It may be a very rare exeption, but yes, the rotational aligment of the second valve is (was) rotated by 12°. Everything on the valve is original and I can´t see any sign of an elder fixing, so it might be the result of an 1968 intern ;-)
12° rotation is exact 3mm, the width of the pin, maybe someone did a measurement failure.
In meantime I´ve just milled off the pin and soldered on a new one. It works pretty good and i didn't have to do anything on the valve and casing.

Cheers
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iiipopes
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Re: Conn short action valve aligment.

Post by iiipopes »

scafo wrote: Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:24 am Thank you for your replys! It may be a very rare exeption, but yes, the rotational aligment of the second valve is (was) rotated by 12°. Everything on the valve is original and I can´t see any sign of an elder fixing, so it might be the result of an 1968 intern ;-)
12° rotation is exact 3mm, the width of the pin, maybe someone did a measurement failure.
In meantime I´ve just milled off the pin and soldered on a new one. It works pretty good and i didn't have to do anything on the valve and casing.

Cheers
To me, it sounds typical of the time: that is the era Macmillan bought Conn, left everything in Indiana, tried to construct a shop in Texas with inexperienced people, and thought they could sell musical instruments like they sold books. Didn't work out too well for them. Congrats on getting a good repair.
Jupiter JTU1110, RT-82.
"Real" Conn 36K.
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