Protecting the thumb ring in a gig bag

[chronolith]

I snapped the thumb ring off my horn during rehearsal last night. Clean break at the connection and no unfortunate collateral damage.

It's an easy fix of course but I think this comes back to the way the horn sits in the gig bag. The thumb ring contacts the inside of the bag before any other part of the front of the horn so naturally it is taking strain. I was wondering if anybody found a clever way to better distribute the weight on the front of the instrument inside the bag. I was considering molding some packaging material to the shape of the valve cluster and using it as a cap.

Thanks.

[bort]

I used to have one of those Velcro covers, and found it to be a lot more hassle than it was worth. I have also heard of people using rubbermaid containers to protect the valve assembly, but that also seems like overkill.

What kind of tuba and what kind of gig bag?

[chronolith]

It's a BMB 845S 4/4. The ring actually sits on the end of an arm that is jointed to the first valve tubing (which is where it broke).

Bag is a Gard bag. Medium size.