What a difference a tuba makes.

[NDSPTuba]

I figured since I'm a relative beginner at Tuba ( though experienced brassman ) I wouldn't be able to appreciably tell the difference between a good tuba and not so good tuba. Well I've played 4 different tubas in a 2 month period. 3 Different Miraphone 186 BBb's and my BATH(Beat all to Hell) Conn 11J. Up until last night the Miraphone's I'd been borrowing to play in community band were HS instruments that have seen some usage but over all looked in descent shape. They played about the same or a little better than my Conn I just got. But last night we had our Christmas concert and it was at a different HS that the rehearsals where and it is a new school. With a horde of brand new Miraphone 186 BBb's. And man o man, I picked a real cherry one, that looked like it hadn't even been out of the case. And it played great, wow what a difference. I was shocked and a little giddy about the fact that I could actually tell the difference and that all the sudden things that where difficult aren't nearly as hard to make speak well. The low range spoke so much better on this horn. Now I have a greater since of urgency to fix my Conn up and also find a quality Big Horn to play. Anyway just thought I'd share.

[KarlMarx]

Dents may influence any brass instrument in a negative way. However, what made you feel, that the new Miraphone 186 was so much easier to play may be a different factor: the tightness of the tubing and of the valves.

The valves of your Conn 11J may be very worn. In that case a fix may have to include a valve job, and then the overall costs may not be justifiable.

However some of my not so new basses have pistons, which don’t look very pretty. Still they are pretty tight. With two of these basses I experienced a few notes, which tended fuzzy.

With one instrument I discovered the source of the problem, when I flushed out the inner bore. The soldering of the ferrule between the bottom bow and the first branch had been damaged by the roughness endured during a previous owner. Tightening up that leak and doing nothing else about the battered situation of that tuba made it a fine player.

Another bass had problems with some notes fingered 23, but no problems with notes fingered 3, a fingering I use quite often. No problems with the 2nd slide, and no really prominent problems with the 3rd slide. When I filled it with water, there were no drips, but the cork of the water key got wetter than expected. A close inspection revealed, that the edge of the waterkey nipple had become a radial scratch. I smoothened that edge with a fine file, and the problem was solved.

I admire the thorough restorations which masters like Sellmansberger and Oberloh make, but I hardly could afford such operations. If minor repairs solve the playing problems, then I can live with a battered appearance of an instrument.

[TubaRay]

...and my BATH(Beat all to Hell) Conn 11J....

You're broken the code...

...Now I have a greater since of urgency to fix my Conn up and also find a quality Big Horn to play...

You've caught the BiggerAT bug.
Yep, you're officially one of us...!

I'd like to express my sympathy for you. This is a fate worse than...well, worse than something, anyway.