Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

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bort
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by bort »

Take it to a reputable shop, set a budget, and have as much done as possible. Always start with a cleaning and go from there.

If you do decide to replace the valve linkages, have it done right, and don't slap on some cheap Chinese parts. Hopefully the bell isn't too bad, and there is still a lot of life left in this old tuba!
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sugawi
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by sugawi »

Image

To me looks similar to the one on the left:
Image
Taken from B&F section here:
http://www.schneideruwe.de/tubamuseum.html
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sugawi
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by sugawi »

GregTuba79 wrote:That thing is awesome, does it play really "woofy" though? I know from seeing different Kaiser's playing in person and Youtube because of that huge .855 ish bore they have more of a dark rumble than their smaller B flat counterparts.
I guess that's what the most fascinating to me about this tuba. I had 4/4 size Miraphones, Cervenys but this loud woofy dark rumble is something I've been looking for all my life :D
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by humBell »

sugawi wrote:
GregTuba79 wrote:That thing is awesome, does it play really "woofy" though? I know from seeing different Kaiser's playing in person and Youtube because of that huge .855 ish bore they have more of a dark rumble than their smaller B flat counterparts.
I guess that's what the most fascinating to me about this tuba. I had 4/4 size Miraphones, Cervenys but this loud woofy dark rumble is something I've been looking for all my life :D
Congratulations on a really nice find!

The springs are fascinating. It looks like it has the gears for the thumbscrew adjustable clock springs, but thumb screws are gone and someone has squeezed in more ordinary springs to serve. And yeah, the compressed spring for water key is unusual too!

That instrument has a lot of character.

Play your heart out on it!

And thanks for posting the schneideruwe.de link, as it might prove useful to me!
Thanks for playing!
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sugawi
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by sugawi »

bort wrote:Take it to a reputable shop, set a budget, and have as much done as possible. Always start with a cleaning and go from there.

If you do decide to replace the valve linkages, have it done right, and don't slap on some cheap Chinese parts. Hopefully the bell isn't too bad, and there is still a lot of life left in this old tuba!
Took it to Tim's Music (Sacramento) and Scott was there to look at it. The bell can be repaired and price is reasonable. There are several patches on a lead pipe and few other spots need to be checked for leaks and dents removed. When it comes to valve assembly he recommend Alexander, approx $1000 in parts and another $500 intallation/modification. He didn't recommend less expensive St. Pete's so Chinese were out of the question. Valve action is clunky and loud, so at least some adjustments will need to be done.
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bort
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by bort »

Very cool! In my opinion, if it's something you want to use long-term (which it sounds like it is), then it's worth paying a little extra for quality parts.

It just brings to mind a certain classic Alexander I heard of a little while ago... which had been retrofitted with an inferior set of Chinese linkages. It was a real head scratcher to hear that such an extremely high quality instrument was quick-fixed with a low-quality part.
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by Heavy_Metal »

bort wrote: It just brings to mind a certain classic Alexander I heard of a little while ago... which had been retrofitted with an inferior set of Chinese linkages. It was a real head scratcher to hear that such an extremely high quality instrument was quick-fixed with a low-quality part.
One that was recently for sale at Baltimore Brass?
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by eupher61 »

The action may be fine after the springs are tree built. Dan Schultz did my (since sold) F helicon and they were amazing afterwards. Not expensive either.
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sugawi
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by sugawi »

Thank you for all advice. Even if I would go the least expensive route I would definitely try to fix current mechanism instead of throwing anything Chinese at it.

Previous owner was able to use it as is and he was so much better player than me. He was even playing this tuba in movie sets ("Enchanted", "Another You").

I have time to decide what to do since everyone seems busy with repairs for school season.


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Image
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Alex C
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by Alex C »

Great picture of the clocksprings and the adjusters! Thanks.
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Re: Long Island CL: "Kaiser" Tuba

Post by MusicSmiths »

The lyre holder reminds me of the tuba discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78712&p=623492&hili ... an#p623492" target="_blank
Unfortunately most of the pictures are now missing... But my memory - such as it is - remembers seeing that lyre holder on that tuba.
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