Franken-Tornister Tuba Project

[Mtrhed]

Cool,
I like where this is going. I've always thought a rucksack horn would be fun to have. I'd spotted your donor horn on CL but couldn't make it up there till this weekend so you beat me to the punch. The horn I'm coming up to Seattle to collect has some similar parentage issues to your donor. We're guessing it was assembled by DEG using some M/W parts. The practice of selling parts to build horns is intriguing. I wonder if Heathkit ever dabbled in musical instruments. Keep us posted on the project.

PS: I'm a tad jealous of the Jumbo's you've managed to gather together. I hope to see a jumbo in the flesh one of these days. They just look awesome.

[SousaSaver]

If you don't reroute all of the tubing you are going to have some trouble providing access to the rotors with as tight of clearances as you are going to have.

Here is what you might consider: make your rotor section removable using screw in bracing. You can get some pretty cheap braces from Jupiter (I think). Barring that, the bracing off of the newer version of the King 2341 would be excellent for this.

Before you go any further with moving and bending tubing, you might consider stripping the lacquer ad annealing the tubing before you bend it.

Also, think about how and where you are going to bend it. What do you want to do specifically? This could help making your decision.

Neat stuff Ian! Keep up the good work.

PS - I will take that King monster bell if you don't need it.

[bort]

Neat! Looks like a useful fun project since they barely exist to begin with.

But...why are your photos so gigantic?

[Ben]

As a guy who prefers a large bore horn, I would love to see one of these tiny densely wrapped horns with a minimum of a ~0.68 bore preferably somewhere in the 0.72- 0.77 bore size... I am thinking of a compact wrapped cimbasso basically. This is what I would like in a travel tuba... of course it would be fully functional... 4v C or a 5v F... I don't know, it would be tough to pull off, as the valve cluster would take up a ton of space... While I am dreaming, can I have a pony?

[Bob Kolada]

With all the tubing you're adding you may as well make it a bit taller. Any why not just make it in a regular tuba shape instead of that Tournister configuration? I think you'd enjoy it more and it'd probably be much easier to play and hold.

Those huge pictures are a definite nogo. If you can't shrink them down a link is a better idea. It's just frustrating scrolling up and down and left and right to read everything; probably enough to make a lot of people who might have more useful ideas than me from even reading the thread.

[Bob Kolada]

Aren't alto horn bottom bows or some such thing known fits to G baritone bells? One of those shouldn't be too difficult to scrape up.

[SousaSaver]

Another issue: the chrome.

I think you should strip the chrome from that bell. Just my opinion, but it would make the job much easier in the end.

Just my opinion.

[Daniel C. Oberloh]

but no one around here that I know of has the ability to strip chrome - unless I can find an autobody shop...

Dude,
Try asking. I don't bite... much. I can send you to a number of places that can strip chrome. We have a lot of industrial facilities between Olympia and Everett.Have you tried that big yellow book and looked under plating. Any chrome shop can help. Try Electrofinishers in Kent. Tell Mike I sent you. If he can't work it into his schedule ask him who he can recommend. Anderson can help as well.


Daniel C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works

[SousaSaver]

My one gripe with the trumpets, is that the ones I've been 'repairing' have various braces and dents and alignment issues that I want to correct but am told to simply do the best possible. I have made a couple trumpets and cornets fit better and look better, but still have issues burning the lacquer

In my opinion, repairing is different than over-hauling. You won't over haul every student trumpet that comes through your shop. If you can make something better quickly you should. If it will take a serious amount of time to make perfect you can quickly exceed the value of the instrument with repairs. Some instruments were built with stress in the braces which will cause the solder to eventually pop. Some instruments were built in the factory with slides improperly aligned. On the other hand, with practice you can get pretty fast with most dent work. Fix what you can within reason and do the best you can. These are factors to keep in mind...

[SousaSaver]

I also sanded, yes sanded, off some of the chrome plating from the bell. It's gonna take loads of time, but no one around here that I know of has the ability to strip chrome - unless I can find an autobody shop...

You can strip chrome using muriatic acid. But if you do this BE CAREFUL! It's very dangerous.

I successfully stripped the chrome from one of those 1 rotor/1 piston tuning slides with the rotor using a 50/50 dilution of water and muriatic acid.