Cutting an Eb

[Himes]

Does anyone have experience getting an Eb cut down to F? Who did the cutting? How much does it cost to have a horn cut down these days?

Thanks!

Himes

[fenne1ca]

I would ask Sam Gnagey. I don't know if he's ever tried it, but he'd probably have some good thoughts on the topic.

[The Big Ben]

Does anyone have experience getting an Eb cut down to F? Who did the cutting? How much does it cost to have a horn cut down these days?

Someone on here has/had a Rusk-cut York F. You might find the discussion interesting:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=31380&p=275074&hili ... rk#p275074" target="_blank

Rick Denney ( http://www.rickdenney.com" target="_blank ) describes a cut Eb-F he's tinkering with. That might give you an idea of what needs to be done.

Sam Gnagey does this kind of work. I'm not sure of the demand because there are lots of good F horns available today. But, whatever you want.

[Rick Denney]

Rick Denney ( http://www.rickdenney.com" target="_blank" target="_blank ) describes a cut Eb-F he's tinkering with. That might give you an idea of what needs to be done.

Rather, how hard it is and how little you might get out of it. My project was something I did just to see what was involved, using a junk instrument bought at junk prices. The result was no less junky than the starting point. A good conversion really requires a good instrument to start with.

Many Eb tubas have a very wide taper and shortening that bugle makes the taper even more extreme. It has always been tempting to make a BAT F tuba from a Monster Eb Bass, but it could be argued that those tubas are already overly wide and as a result have questionable intonation and other problems. Making them into an F will likely make those problems worse.

Smaller Eb tubas can be cheap, but if they aren't great Eb tubas, they won't be great F tubas.

Good Eb tubas are just as expensive as good F tubas, and there are already great F tubas on the market.

What are the goals? What is the starting point? Those are crucial questions.

Rick "noting that the few who really know how to make these conversions are in demand and choose their projects strategically" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Who did the cutting? How much does it cost to have a horn cut down these days?

There are only a handful of technicians in the world who know how to do this right. Bob Rusk, Sam Gnagey, Joe Sellmansberger, Matt Walters and maybe one or two others. All of them are busy, and none do these projects on a whim except maybe for themselves.

Here's a budget for a Bb to C conversion concept outlined to me by a major store owner: $1000 for the overhaul (not including complete reassembly or finishing, and we aren't talking about the sort of restoration done by somebody like Dan Oberloh), $2000 for the conversion, $1000 for the required additional valve (to make the result marketable), and $2000 for the silver plate. That's $6000 at wholesale. Some have saved money by forgoing the silver plate. Some save more by minimizing the overhaul, or by sticking to a well-tested formula for a particular combination of parts. If the carcass cost, say, $2000, then the cost of the result would be $8000. It would have to sell for enough more to pay the seller for the bother and for tying up the money. Would it be worth that in the end? Only in rare cases.

Rick "who can't think of many Eb tubas worthy of the effort" Denney