Common Tuba modifications

[KCarubia]

Many players purchase horns and then customize them to their liking. i.e. venting, leadpipe mods, etc.

Some of these modifications now come standard in today's tuba models.

How have you modified your horn and why?

[bort]

Here are some off the top of my head:

Vented valves
Saturn water keys
Replace 1291 leadpipe with a 1292 leadpipe (or in general larger pipe --> smaller pipe)
PVAK
Leadpipe raised from bell
Rotors reversed so they all turn the same way
Slides reversed
AGR receiver
Stripping the laquer (bell or entire horn)
Tuning slide triggers
Convert LH 5th valve to RH 5th valve (or vice versa)
Adding (or removing) a 5th valve

[KCarubia]

What I've done

I own a Meinl Weston 2145 CC.
I extended the leadpipe out of the receiver to accept more of my mouthpiece and add more bite to my sound.
I vented my 1st valve
I freed up my 1st valve slide and use tbone super slick cream on it.
I'll be extending my 2nd valve slide's ring farther out by adding a brass rod.
I'll be removing the 5th valve adjustable bracket and relocating it's pieces to the 1st valve slide, adding a string catch.
I'll be venting my 2nd and 3 valves soon.
I'll be separating my leadpipe from my bell. (this is something done with the current MW2145 models.)

[bort]

For clarification... I've only done about 3 or 4 of the things I listed.

[KCarubia]

Which? I wonder what's common now.

[arpthark]

For my PT-20P CC:
• Vented valves 1 + 3
• Valve slides aligned coupled with slide grease cut with valve oil = not quite trombone speed, but still swift and they stay where you put them.

The only really wonky pitches on my PT-20P involve these two valves, so now good intonation is just a wrist-flick away.

For my B&S JBL F:
• 2nd valve vented to compensate for pressure changes caused by factory-installed 2nd valve slide trigger... will vent the rest as funds become available
• Tech finally got tubing from B&S to extend tuning slide a few inches... should get it done within a few weeks. The horn plays at A440 with the tuning slide nearly all the way out; figured I should have just a bit more wiggle room.

[KCarubia]

[quote="arpthark"]For my PT-20P CC:
• Valve slides aligned coupled with slide grease cut with valve oil = not quite trombone speed, but still swift and they stay where you put them.

Be careful with mixing grease and oil. The black residue is a pain and will run down your slide into the valves.

[JHardisk]

• Tech finally got tubing from B&S to extend tuning slide a few inches... should get it done within a few weeks. The horn plays at A440 with the tuning slide nearly all the way out; figured I should have just a bit more wiggle room.

I just did this exact modification to my JBL. It played beautifully with the slide all the way in, but at A=453!! We added 3" of slide to each tuning slide tube and it's awesome, AND down to useable pitch now.

Great return for all the hassle of getting pipes sent from Germany to fix a problem that should have been addressed at the darn factory!

[arpthark]

Be careful with mixing grease and oil. The black residue is a pain and will run down your slide into the valves.

Thanks for the heads up. I've been doing this for over year now, no real issues yet. I did use BERP Bio-Oil for a while in this application, but it created a bunch of nasty, rancid, canola oil-smelling green gunk inside the tubing and in the ports of the pistons. Very gross. I switched to regular generic music-store valve oil, and coupled with Ultra-Pure slide grease, great results with no black gunk. With my body chemistry, at least.

I just did this exact modification to my JBL. It played beautifully with the slide all the way in, but at A=453!! We added 3" of slide to each tuning slide tube and it's awesome, AND down to useable pitch now.

Great return for all the hassle of getting pipes sent from Germany to fix a problem that should have been addressed at the darn factory!

I bet! Do you have the five valve or six valve model? You sound great on it from what I've seen on YouTube.

I spent about 5 hours in Ferndale at CMI last December, trying out all the F tuba stock they had available. Finally had it narrowed down to the JBL five valve, JBL six valve, and the PT-15. Against the tuner, the JBL five valve won... but it was probably 50 degrees in the back of the warehouse where they keep stock. At room temperature, the overall pitch was sharp unless you pull the tuning slide nearly all the way. Besides that, I find the JBL to have very, very good intonation, with only a few problem notes that can easily be corrected with the handy 2nd valve slide kicker or an alternate fingering.

[Bob Kolada]

I had a small front valve King Eb worked over a bit. The seller flipped the first valve tubing to a top pull and I had a tech cut down the long main slide crook later on. I'm also getting a horn custom built; a 3 front valve Eb bass trombone shaped like a front valve euph to replace my Getzen 1062 and spell my lousy left elbow. Based on other horns the guy has made, I'm counting on loving it.

[bort]

Here's what I have done, have thought about doing, or has been done to the tuba before I bought it (at least as much as I can remember!):

• Vented valves -- stock on my 1291, was done to my 188 before I got it. Love it!
• Replace 1291 leadpipe with a 1292 leadpipe -- did this to my 1291 and it improved response and tightened things up
• Replace stock Miraphone springs with Yamaha tuba springs. Tried the euph springs, but they felt too light.
• PVAK -- did this to my Marzan, seemed like a decent idea for an old horn. I liked it!
• Leadpipe raised from bell -- had this done to an Olds O-99 I had many many years ago. It needed a new leadpipe anyway, so why not!
• Stripping the laquer (bell or entire horn) -- I've considered this on my 188, but purely for cosmetic reasons. Seems like a lot of trouble, so forget that!
• Convert LH 5th valve to RH 5th valve (or vice versa) -- I've considered changing my 188 fifth valve to LH. Still not sure, I need to try another LH 5th tuba to decide. Low priority, but then I could put a 1st slide trigger on my RH thumb or something?
• Adding (or removing) a 5th valve -- I considered this before on a 4v VMI CC tuba. I sold the tuba instead, no sense hacking up a perfectly good 4v tuba (and paying a lot of money and waiting a lot of time).

[KCarubia]

Help me out...PVAK?

[bort]

http://www.baertracksmusic.com/index.php?page=alignment

Search for it here too... some people love it, some people don't. Seemed worth it to me!

[KCarubia]

Awesome thanks!

[ken k]

I replaced the 982 lead pipe with a Besson 981 (Boosey & Hawked Eb tuba) and mounted it off the bell and put on an AGR.

I installed delrin valve guides

I had a stewart stand mounted permantently on the horn rather than use the velcro straps

had some tuning slides cut a little to improve tuning

on my old beuscher I had many of the slides cut and reversed so they were upright and I could pull them with my leftg hand. I added some extra water keys. I also had it made into a Dr Suessaphone, but thatis not a common modification.

[KCarubia]

I've seen that! I think Pat and Sam produced that DVD. ;o)

[Matt Walters]

I found the one magic spot that needed just a little brass de-burred to fix all the intonation issues. Horn no longer "Plays Stuffy", has no more "Wonky" notes, no "Questionable Intonation Issues", and now plays "Balanced".

[tclements]

Spring loaded tuning jiggers. I have them on 8 of my horns.

[ken k]

I like to occasionally blow spit into my tubas. This seems make it produce fewer ugly sounds. Not sure how it works though...

salivary glands.

i always thought it was condensation...

[ken k]

acousticoil....