OFFICIAL LIST of complete tuba overhauls/restorations

[Tuba Guy]

The artists at Tim's Music in Sacramento CA are without a doubt, the best within at least 60 miles of the SF bay area. Robert is a tuba player, so he actually wants to make the instrument work its best. Absolutely worth the drive
For the record, they've restored my Naked Lady (unplayable/leaking to my main pro horn), a 184, and are currently working on another souse (that had too many leaks to really work properly). I would consider this restoring my tubas to their original playing condition.
tl;dr If you're in SF, Oakland, or the central valley, your instruments will be treated best at tim's. Definitely worth the drive

[tubacorbin]

The artists at Tim's Music in Sacramento CA are without a doubt, the best within at least 60 miles of the SF bay area. Robert is a tuba player, so he actually wants to make the instrument work its best. Absolutely worth the drive
For the record, they've restored my Naked Lady (unplayable/leaking to my main pro horn), a 184, and are currently working on another souse (that had too many leaks to really work properly). I would consider this restoring my tubas to their original playing condition.
tl;dr If you're in SF, Oakland, or the central valley, your instruments will be treated best at tim's. Definitely worth the drive

+1 Have to agree that Tim's Music is great. They did great work on a Gronitz rotary F I owned a while ago.

[Mitch]

Is Kevin Powers still working? Michigan Musical Instrument Service, I think, is the name of his shop. Monroe, MI. I never used him, but I've seen his work, and it's fantastic, including, IIRC, a rebuild of a Yorkbrunner that had, um, been hit by a car. You never would know it to look at the horn.

[Dan Schultz]

Does Tim's do re-lacquering and or re-plating? A full restoration would include this I believe.

You still need to qualify what you mean by 'full restoration'. In my humble opinion... it is absolutely impossible to 'restore' anything to new condition.

If you mean whacking the dents out, replacing parts, buffing, and squirting on new lacquer... that is not 'restoration'.

I'm not trying to be picky here but noting that once a horn is buffed... some metal is gone. That's not restoration.

[Polkahero]

Is Kevin Powers still working? Michigan Musical Instrument Service, I think, is the name of his shop. Monroe, MI. I never used him, but I've seen his work, and it's fantastic, including, IIRC, a rebuild of a Yorkbrunner that had, um, been hit by a car. You never would know it to look at the horn.

Yep, I talked to Kevin a few months ago and he is still in business. He also contracts for Custom Music International a couple days a week.

[Tuba Guy]

Does Tim's do re-lacquering and or re-plating? A full restoration would include this I believe.

You still need to qualify what you mean by 'full restoration'. In my humble opinion... it is absolutely impossible to 'restore' anything to new condition.

If you mean whacking the dents out, replacing parts, buffing, and squirting on new lacquer... that is not 'restoration'.

I'm not trying to be picky here but noting that once a horn is buffed... some metal is gone. That's not restoration.

To my knowledge, they don't plate or relaquer in house (they had to send my sousa valves to Anderson to get replated).
However, in my limited definition of "restore", they have restored many tubas from unplayable (or "wonky") to instruments that make me money (and which I don't have to worry how they'll perform). Restoring the horn to its former abilities, if you will.
I think restoration can be a very subjective term depending on what you expect the final results to be

[Donn]

It wouldn't hurt to try to have it mean something fairly specific, though, for present purposes. I mean, if my tuba's playing pretty well, but the cork fell out of the water key, am I now a restoration shop because I put a piece of cork in there from a wine bottle and it's restored to pretty good playing condition?

It reads to me like for most of us an acceptable definition would be to make an old tuba like a new tuba, in all respects - cosmetic and functional.

Note the semantic distinction: I'm saying "like a new tuba" rather than "like the tuba was when it was new", because as pointed out above, that's not strictly possible. Especially if it takes a lot of buffing, or I suppose even a lot of hammering the metal around could change dimensions, internal stresses, metal crystal structure etc. Not all these changes are bad, maybe most are good -- tubas come out of the factory poorly assembled all the time.

The down side is that this definition makes the cosmetic part essential, when for many of us that isn't a very interested part of the process. I mean, a full dent job would be sweet enough, maybe I wouldn't even want it all buffed down for the finish if that service were offered for free. Someone who can get all the dents out and all the joints lined up so the slides are smooth, rebuild pistons, replace missing braces, etc. ... you want that shop on the list.

[Patrase]

For international you could add http://www.bettersounds.com.au" target="_blank . They do the works including replating. They are in Brisbane Australia

[bigbob]

[When my horn needed an over haul, ]
What comprises an "Overhaul" What are the things that are mostly done to it?? Thank you for any info......BB

[trocklouisville]

Dustin Webb at Miles Ahead Music in Louisville, Ky worked on this sousaphone and he produced these results. I think he needs to be on this list of folks with talent for bringing back instruments from the abyss.

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TUBENET SOUSA2.jpg

TUBENET SOUSA1.jpg

My Mirafone1865U had some damage recently and I loved his work. I highly recommend him.

Russell

[EdFirth]

Hey Wade, If it's an old horn wouldn't a valve job be in there somewhere? Or is that just not as common as I thought. Appreciating your insight, Ed

[tubamlb]

Palm Beach , Florida

In Boca Raton Pete Kohnen is a fantastic technician
We have watched Pete rebuild Sousaphones and tubas that seamed hopeless
into as new instruments

Pete is at M&M Instruments ,
6453 W Rogers Circle
Unit N2
Boca Raton FL 33487
561 241 7303

[Renodoc]

So I bought a used 1920's Conn 14k Naked Lady Sousaphone from Beeman Brass Works in Cleveland that he restored. The sousaphone plays great and I was really happy with Everett's professionalism. Don't know if anybody else out there has had experience with him.

[marccromme]

Germany, Berlin, The Berliner Tuba. https://berlinertuba.com/contact.html" target="_blank Lois Kline makes the most beautiful restaurations of vintage tubas, and other low brass. Amazing guy!

[Rick Denney]

Wade, I recall from the old days a distinction between "econo-overhaul" and "full overhaul". The Econo-Overhaul was intended to bring the instrument to flawless playing operation, and included everything on your list except the final refinishing steps. It would include a valve job, slide alignments, worn parts replacements (including any required to alleviate red rot), and complete dent removal. It may include sanding and buffing, and maybe a quick lacquer spray, but without any attempt to make it look really new. (I would never tolerate the sanding and buffing.)

Then there's a full "play-ready" overhaul, which would include all of the above except any finish work, maybe even including the full removal of the previous finish. When Joe reworked my Holton, he straightened the bell, removed the dents, performed a valve job, and completely (and dramatically) realigned the valve branches. I call that a playability overhaul--it restored all the instrument's potentialplaying qualities. It went beyond making it solidly functional--I doubt Holton ever aligned slides as well as Joe did.

(There is also the cosmetic overhaul, aimed at the school market, such as made popular back in San Antonio by P.R.--you know who I mean. That is what leads to the shiny fetish objects on ebay that have to be made ugly to correct their functional deficiencies.)

In the car world, there is a difference between "restoration" and "renovation". Restoration's goal is to make it exactly like it was when new, with historical commitment. Renovation is intended to make it like new, but usably updated. My 1973 GMC Motorhome is undergoing a long-term renovation--it now has an updated front end, updated brakes, a highly modified interior, and various other functional improvements. But boy in needs paint.

I doubt we ever do anything called "restoration" in the tuba world, even on a historical instrument. When Dan Oberloh does what he does with a Holton, it's not like new. It's significantly better than new, both in terms of finishing and in terms of functional corrections.

My point is there is a continuum, and anywhere you set a boundary (such as they do or don't do lacquer or silver plate) will seem arbitrary from some perspective.

Rick "who knows who he would use, and who he wouldn't" Denney

[Will Jones]

Ohio
Beeman Brass Works does complete rebuilds/restoration. He did my conn 36j. My understanding is that he bought Borodi’s shop.