Another "project to be"

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Tubajug
5 valves
5 valves
Posts: 1712
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:23 pm
Location: Lincoln, NE

Another "project to be"

Post by Tubajug »

Greetings,

I picked up this old H.N. White/King Eb from a fellow on craiglist here in Lincoln (you don't see too many tubas on craigslist around here!) as another project horn. It came with a mouthpiece as well. The mouthpiece is marked "H.N. White Co. 24" and "EQUA TRU." The serial number dates to 1918 according to the King numbers on horn-u-copia (I didn't see a separate numbering system for H.N. White).

It must be a low pitch horn because it's a really flat Eb according to my tuner. I was hoping to use it at a concert later this month, but probably won't have time to trim down the main slide before then, oh well. The valve slides have a groove marked in them, does that mean it might have had a separate tuning slide for high pitch and the marks are to indicate where to have the slides for high vs. low pitch tuning?

It's a bit taller than my little Lyon and Healy Eb, and it actually sits at a nice height on my lap.

My plan with this is to save up and buy a four-valve set (or combine two three-valve sets into a four) and convert it into a small, front action CC tuba. Someone did it with a York Eb and a Reynolds BBb horn in this thread (scroll down a few posts):

viewtopic.php?p=217774#p217774

Anyway, here's a picture of it after a bath (the water was nice and dirty afterwards!). I will try the Tarn-X and baking soda method mentioned here to try and clean up the tarnish, but I don't plan on doing much in the way of repairs until I start the conversion process. I will probably cut the slide to modern pitch at some point, just so I can use it.

Image

Thanks for looking!
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
User avatar
Tubajug
5 valves
5 valves
Posts: 1712
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:23 pm
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Another "project to be"

Post by Tubajug »

Thanks for the replies. The horn has a nice tone in the short time I've played on it. My ears tell me it's pretty well in tune with itself. My hope is that it turns into a nice, nimble CC.

Has anyone else ever turned an Eb into a CC? I know it's a lot of trial and error, but I would be interested in seeing similar projects (the user in the thread I linked earlier hasn't been on TubeNet since 2011 and thus never answered my PM about his project).
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
User avatar
Tubajug
5 valves
5 valves
Posts: 1712
Joined: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:23 pm
Location: Lincoln, NE

Re: Another "project to be"

Post by Tubajug »

Also in the meantime, any educated guesses on about how much tubing needs to be trimmed from the main tuning slide to bring it up to modern pitch?
Jordan
King 2341 with a Holton "Monster" Eb bell
Eb Frankentuba
Martin Medium Eb Helicon

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving's probably not for you.
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