Jupiter 378 Slide

[Tuba Guy]

Hi everyone,
I have a student whose home instrument is a (school owned) Jupiter 378 (3v piston upright). He has mentioned (and I have confirmed) that the third valve slide does not move. I obviously don't want to force anything, but it doesn't make sense that they would produce an instrument whose third slide was immobile. http://www.jupitermusic.com/jbi_instrum ... =1&pId=158
Does anyone have experience with these horns or know whether these are designed to be tuneable?
Thanks,
the EB3ba

[tubarepair]

They didn't. It is simply stuck. These horns have long inner slide legs (much longer than necessary - think older Yamaha's). They have a tendency to be neglected when it comes to lubrication. A couple of missed spots of grease and corrosion forms.

[ralphbsz]

My son's middle school has a pair of 378s, and all the slides do indeed move. That is, after you bring the horns to a qualified repair technician (thank you James!) who makes them move, then bathes the whole horn in his ultrasonic cleaner, and then I do the lubricating on them.

Other folks here can chime in with advice for pulling stuck slides, and whether disassemble of the tuba (into 3 pieces, they're held together by just a few screws) might help. I don't know enough to give advice on that.

[Tuba Guy]

Great. I'll bring a towel next week and try to pull it a little, but if that doesn't work I'll suggest he brings it in. Thanks for your help!