For you tuba tech guys

[Bill Troiano]

Let's just say I had a nice 621CC and I was thinking about getting an f after many years without one. Is it possible, feasible, cost effective, to cut down the 621CC to make an f, being that they are the same basic horn as far as I know? I figure it would need a 5th valve. Or, how about cutting it into a Yammy Eb?

[J.c. Sherman]

You can sell the 621-CC tuba for $3K and buy a 621-F for $4.5K.

Do you think you can pay someone to cut that tuba to F for $1500 or less ?

Besides all the 5th valve parts, you'll need:

1st bow (upper)
2nd bow (lower)
3rd bow (upper
4th bow (lower)

and surely dozens of other misc. parts.

Probably can do it for much less... though the 5th valve is a bit of a variable, but it's an easy cut... just have to make one bow from scratch. The others remain unchaged from the CC to F versions. Bracing remains very similar as well. Your greatest expense would be cosmetics if you wanted it to be super pretty when done.

I'd rather cut it to Eb, myself. Always thought these would make a great Eb, the one key they don't make them in...

J.c.

[ASTuba]

I always wanted a YFB-822 to be remade into an Eb. I've been telling Yamaha this for many years, as I think it would sell very well.

[Rick Denney]

but it's an easy cut... just have to make one bow from scratch.

But for $1500?

It seems to me the reason for cutting a tuba is to make something not otherwise available, unless it's just for solder practice. There are many 621 F tubas, and they come up for sale frequently, it seems to me.

If you make parts that are readily available for purchase, you run the risk of being compared to the real thing. Given how good the 621F is, that would be a challenging comparison.

I was offered a 6-valve B&S Symphonie to replace my 5-valve Symphonie, about which I had inquired about the possibility of adding the sixth valve. The price was about $1800 more than I had paid for the 5-valve instrument. I didn't consider the difference in price, but only the purchase price, and that led me to decline the offer. Dumb mistake. I should have bought it and now I regret not doing so. I could surely have sold the 5-valve model for at least what I paid for it, and the difference is far less than what it would cost to add the valve to it.

Rick "noting that a Rusk cut plus a fifth valve, at wholesale, runs at least twice the mentioned difference in price" Denney

[J.c. Sherman]

Rick,

You're of course correct - making something otherwise not available is the proper motivation. Most of my builds, however, are about economy, trying to get a good instrument when you're not sitting on a mound of dollars or an ocean of credit. My preference is to do what you speak of, and occasionally there's someone who wants the "whole deal" from me from design to cosmetics. But my projects almost always stem from a brainstorm or a need without much money behind it. So we compromise.

That said, your point is precisely why I want to try making an Eb version of this instrument. I think it would be nice for me to have a socially acceptable Eb (i.e. front action). I'm working on a Conn Monster Eb right now (SLOWLY!), and I'm tweaking a 4-rotor King Eb I've assembled myself. But I have doubts about how successful an Eb cut would be for the 621.

One other factor here - taking apart a YCB-621 to make an F can also afford the opportunity to tweak a few things. The YFB-821 has two main changes from the 621 - bigger bell flare and an angled valve section. The later could be executed (yes, with additional expense) while doing the rebuild, making something which is indeed, "unavailable otherwise".



J.c.

[J.c. Sherman]

If you have the 4-valve set, yes. You'd end up with virtually the same horn as a 621 with the same bore.

J.c.

[Bill Troiano]

Thanks for the responses all. Nah! I'm not looking for a trade at this time. I do use the 621CC for the strolling trad. jazz stuff and I bring it to my 2 part time teaching gigs. Nice to look at, nice to hold.... fun to play. But, most people I play with prefer the sound of a larger horn. Rick's and Joe's responses were basically what I thought myself. However a Yammy Eb???????????????

[imperialbari]

However a Yammy Eb???????????????

There would be 3 of them, 3 or 4 valves, comp or non-comp. However all with top valves.

The Yamaha 621 front action tubas look like directed towards the American market, where the Eb basses have been kind of considered obsolete for a long time. Isn’t it 50 or more years since the last American Eb bass went out of production?

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

[bsptuba]

I have the same horn and have been thinking about doing this to mine as well. Just doesn't seem worth it though