Cutting a sousaphone bell from 26" to 24"

[MikeW]

If you do decide to cut your existing bell instead of trading it for a smaller one, this posting from an earlier thread on a similar topic may be useful.

Re: cutting bell flare

Postby Daniel C. Oberloh » Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:58 pm
The only economically workable way I have found to cut down a tuba bell rim is not re-spinning but replacing the rim with a solid rim made from brass rod, that is milled, brazed into a ring, shaped on a roll-stand and after proper fitting, soldered to the bell rim. If done properly and with care, it will be nearly impossible to tell that it was altered. It is very doable.

Daniel C. Oberloh
Oberloh Woodwind and Brass Works
www.oberloh.com

[Donn]

All he did was take a wire, make a 20" loop, solder its ends together, and grind and file flat the side of it where
it contacted the sheet metal and solder it on.

Here's an idea for a variation that I bet hasn't often been done: cut a series of half-ellipses around the rim like petals of a flower, and then solder that wire to the tips of the petals. Unique, and awesome.

[KiltieTuba]

All he did was take a wire, make a 20" loop, solder its ends together, and grind and file flat the side of it where
it contacted the sheet metal and solder it on.

Here's an idea for a variation that I bet hasn't often been done: cut a series of half-ellipses around the rim like petals of a flower, and then solder that wire to the tips of the petals. Unique, and awesome.

Wasn't there a Besson euphonium with a flower shaped bell?

[PMeuph]

All he did was take a wire, make a 20" loop, solder its ends together, and grind and file flat the side of it where
it contacted the sheet metal and solder it on.

Here's an idea for a variation that I bet hasn't often been done: cut a series of half-ellipses around the rim like petals of a flower, and then solder that wire to the tips of the petals. Unique, and awesome.

Wasn't there a Besson euphonium with a flower shaped bell?

It's a Sterling, not a Besson.
http://www.johnpacker.co.uk/blog/?tag=/euphonium

[MartyNeilan]

I am honestly not certain if either diameter would be appropriate for the Vaughan Williams Concerto.

[Donn]

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(adapted from randomly selected photo found on the web.)