Wooden Bells

[KarlMarx]

Sperrholz octogonales pour les cissyphonistes cum wooden Hoden!

Carolus Polygonissimus Stomvini

[tubaman5150]

I'm curious though if anyone has actually ever tried to do this with a tuba though.

Don't give Chuck Dallenbach any more ideas.....

[Dan Schultz]

While wandering through the TMEA convention last week, I noticed that the piccolo (trumpet) had a wooden bell on it. I'm curious though if anyone has actually ever tried to do this with a tuba though.

Well... I was gonna make a wood bell for my Martin 'mammoth' sousa, but the tree I had picked out blew down last summer! It's just as well... I broke the big blade off my Case XXX three-blade whittler trying to carve a new piston for one of my Kings.

[dunelandmusic]

I remember once seeing in a wood wooking book a wooden sousaphone, kind of looked like a large salad bowl. Don't know how in played.

[Will]

Then you would have to worry about the weather and temperature changes. And would it survive the amount of vibration that results in playing a tuba? You could literally "crack" a note!


heads

[Shockwave]

I too saw that wooden sousaphone in the back of the Fine Woodworking magazine book. It was an incredibly sculpted patchwork of different hardwoods, and was apparently functional! I wouldnt want to expose it to much moisture, though.

Judging by how people belittle Chuck Dallenbach's carbon fiber bell, the world is not ready for a wooden tuba.


-Eric

[Matt G]

I could swear I remember seeing a tuba made out of wood in an old TUBA Journal. The bell was square and everything was wooden, even the valves.

For the life of me I cannot locate it online via google or on the ITEA website.

I remember the picture had a guy with a beard holding it.

[Uncle Buck]

I also remember the picture of the wooden tuba from the journal from many years ago (when it was TUBA journal). I've also wondered over the years about the possibilities of a wooden mouthpiece.

[Tubadork]

http://www.brassbusiness.com/db/brass/u ... oduit.html

[Dan Schultz]

I could swear I remember seeing a tuba made out of wood in an old TUBA Journal. The bell was square and everything was wooden, even the valves.

For the life of me I cannot locate it online via google or on the ITEA website.

I remember the picture had a guy with a beard holding it.

There's a guy who builds square serpents. Someone might have the link.

[Chuck(G)]

There's a guy who builds square serpents. Someone might have the link.

Not just serpents (he calls 'em squarepents), but square ophicleides (box-o-cleides) also:

http://www.serpentwebsite.com/SQPT_concept.htm

[Captain Sousie]

Not just serpents (he calls 'em squarepents)

There has got to be a spongebob reference in there somewhere.

[smurphius]

I would think if you were to use something like mahogony (used on fingerboards of double basses) that you'd have wood hard enough to withstand the vibration. Plus, as the wood aged, it'd be less prone to changes due to weather.


Matt (whose wife is consumed with making sure her double bass is being exposed to enough humidity in the winter, and not too much humidity in the summer)

[Chuck(G)]

I would think if you were to use something like mahogony (used on fingerboards of double basses) that you'd have wood hard enough to withstand the vibration. Plus, as the wood aged, it'd be less prone to changes due to weather.

Matt (whose wife is consumed with making sure her double bass is being exposed to enough humidity in the winter, and not too much humidity in the summer)

A few folks around here have canoes made up of cedar strips laminated with resin (there may be some fiberglass cloth in the recipe). Very beautiful lightweight things and obviously impervious to the weather. Acoustically, I suppose a bell made the same way wouldn't be any worse than a standard fiberglass sousie bell.

Maybe Matt's wife should look into one of those carbon-fiber basses. From what a luthier friend says, not up to the quality of the carbon-fiber celli, but getting better...

[KarlMarx]

[Tom]

http://www.brassbusiness.com/db/brass/u ... oduit.html

I have a hard time believing that this is a tuba mouthpiece. It looks more like a trumpet piece with a trombone shank.

The one in the picture looks like a trombone one, but I have a tuba version of it (didn't get mine there), so I can confirm that they do exist.

[fpoon]

Wooden mouthpiece? Argh. Can't think of too many woods that would (hahaha, would-wood, get it?) last under normal conditions. Ebony wouldn't be as bad as say walnut, cause it has a really tight grain. But still. It would suck a lot me thinks.

[Kevin Hendrick]

Wooden mouthpiece? Argh. Can't think of too many woods that would (hahaha, would-wood, get it?) last under normal conditions. Ebony wouldn't be as bad as say walnut, cause it has a really tight grain. But still. It would suck a lot me thinks.

You'd be surprised! I bought one made of rosewood (turned from a single piece of wood, shank included) a couple of years ago, and it's a very nice mouthpiece, especially for outdoor playing in the winter. The rim doesn't conduct heat much, so it's warm immediately (like polycarbonate). The wood gives it a different sound, one you definitely "wood"n't get from a metal or plastic mouthpiece. It does need to be oiled once or twice a year (almond oil works well), but that's the extent of the maintenance needed. It's a worthwhile addition to "the stable" -- and yes, I have played concerts on it!

[fpoon]

Awesome! Who sells em, and what do they run $ wise?

[Dan Schultz]

On a related theme, would it be possible to make a tuba out of the lexan that Kelly mouthpieces are made from?

Lexan is tough but it is also fairly resilient and would absorb quite a bit of the energy that a tuba is supposed to multiply. I suppose it could be done, but there are some engineered plastics that would work better than Lexan (polycarbonate). Lexan is a cheap material compared to engineered materials like Fortran or Valox.. that might be good materials for a tuba bell if one were to injection mold it. I doubt if Lexan would be lighter than fiberglass, SMC, or FRP.