I need a tip to repair a bell

[dantetuba]

Many know that I live in Brazil.
I have a Conn 10J Tuba, the bell is very crumpled when the repairman tried to fix some cuts appeared.
What should I do? Patch? Or weld? What is the best option in this case?

Thanks All

Dante

[Bob Kolada]

Got a picture? I'm no repairman, but crumpled doesn't sound that good.

[tclements]

Get the shotgun!!

[Art Hovey]

Small cuts or holes in the bell of a tuba have no perceptible effect. But if the wrinkles are smoothed out it is not difficult to solder small brass patches over the holes. Harvey Phillips had some on the bell of his Conn.

[Tom Coffey]

A lot of fine older tubas have bell patches. Lee Stofer has some pictures on his site of a horn he patched in several places. The procedure is usually to make patches from brass and solder them to the bell.
I have an old York Eb with the same condition. I have not done anything with it yet because it does not affect the sound.
Probably you need a repairman with experience in bell patches for best results.

[dantetuba]

HI,

The cuts are small about 1 ", unfortunately I live where I do not have a repairman with experience to do this job.
I do not know what I do think I'll leave with minor cuts.

Thanks All

Dante

[Donn]

The cuts are small about 1 ", unfortunately I live where I do not have a repairman with experience to do this job.
I do not know what I do think I'll leave with minor cuts.

It's probably just as well, but if you can't stand the cracks, note that solder is the technique used to join copper pipes for residential water supply, if they do it that way where you are. I usually make a horrible mess when I solder, but that's only because I'm particularly inept, it isn't so hard. I believe the tricky part is getting a patch shaped so that it lies quite flat over the crack. If that turns out to be easy ... I think the most common problem with patches is that they are usually unimaginatively round or oblong, and miss out on the decorative possibilities. Maybe in the shape of one of your cracks, you see a lizard, or a hummingbird or something. Or with a couple extra patches for symmetry you could make a ring of contrasting copper and brass patches around the bell. Each patch could have a little ring or two soldered into it, so that you could hang small items from the bell. Etc. I wish my bell had a hole in it!