My Besson Eb

[Lectron]

"The parker cut (not Flech cut...he had a custom Eb)"

Funny, because it was Fletcher himself who showed me the Parker cut. At that time (late 1970's), the tubing going in and out of the back ferruels was perfectly straight. The intonation of the actual partials didn't change at all - everything just moved upward. The bigger bell and leader-pipe just made the sound a bit bigger and 'warmer'. I had anticipated that the octaves would be just slightly smaller in pitch. If I needed to 'nail' the high register, I'd compensate by putting a shallower mouthpiece in. Worked for me.

And yes, I play a rotary Neptune CC. It ain't perfect, but it's working for what I'm trying to do at this point. Maybe we should all just get electric basses and forget all this stuff.

Fletcher had an Eb altered by Parkers
He sold that tuba through Parkers to me in the early 1980s when I was 10
I still have it

Alasdair

And that would be a 19" bell version, or just a LP 15" brought up in pitch?

[Steve Sykes]

I've been trying to upload a photo of my old Boosey & Hawkes EEb tuba as I thought it may be of interest - unfortunately it just will not load.
It was the precursor to the 'Sovereign' 981 model and it was sent to me in 1976 - it was the first 19" bell EEb tuba in brass bands and was a magnificent instrument. Using the DW2L mouthpiece I never had any intonation problems with it and the instrument 'sang' beautifully. There were three of these prototype tubas built - Fletch had one, I had one and the other one went to either Jim Anderson or Ian King - I can't quite remember.
The photo is from 1979 whilst touring in Austria - one morning in Innsbruck as I recall. What I do remember was that I had the most humongous hangover ever!
I'll keep attempting to upload the photo.
Steve S.

[oedipoes]

I've been trying to upload a photo of my old Boosey & Hawkes EEb tuba as I thought it may be of interest - unfortunately it just will not load.

Steve,

I pm'ed you my mail address.

Thx!

[adkirk]

"The parker cut (not Flech cut...he had a custom Eb)"

Funny, because it was Fletcher himself who showed me the Parker cut. At that time (late 1970's), the tubing going in and out of the back ferruels was perfectly straight. The intonation of the actual partials didn't change at all - everything just moved upward. The bigger bell and leader-pipe just made the sound a bit bigger and 'warmer'. I had anticipated that the octaves would be just slightly smaller in pitch. If I needed to 'nail' the high register, I'd compensate by putting a shallower mouthpiece in. Worked for me.

And yes, I play a rotary Neptune CC. It ain't perfect, but it's working for what I'm trying to do at this point. Maybe we should all just get electric basses and forget all this stuff.

Fletcher had an Eb altered by Parkers
He sold that tuba through Parkers to me in the early 1980s when I was 10
I still have it

Alasdair

And that would be a 19" bell version, or just a LP 15" brought up in pitch?

15" bell
Alasdair

[oedipoes]

I've been trying to upload a photo of my old Boosey & Hawkes EEb tuba as I thought it may be of interest - unfortunately it just will not load.
It was the precursor to the 'Sovereign' 981 model and it was sent to me in 1976 - it was the first 19" bell EEb tuba in brass bands and was a magnificent instrument. Using the DW2L mouthpiece I never had any intonation problems with it and the instrument 'sang' beautifully. There were three of these prototype tubas built - Fletch had one, I had one and the other one went to either Jim Anderson or Ian King - I can't quite remember.
The photo is from 1979 whilst touring in Austria - one morning in Innsbruck as I recall. What I do remember was that I had the most humongous hangover ever!
I'll keep attempting to upload the photo.
Steve S.

There you go:

ssykes B&H proto.jpg

[oedipoes]

Follow up:
In the mean time, my tuba has been overhauled by Mark Carter (Mr. Tuba) http://www.mrtuba.com
- Cut lower back bow for proper tuning
- Installed new Fletcher-style lead pipe
- Removed bottom-bow ball
- ...
- Complete overhaul and bright silver plate

Mr. Tuba has provided excellent service and craftsmanship, and a very short lead-time!
He has a wealth of experience in these (and other) instruments, I can highly recommend working with him.

The result can be seen in the picture below.

DSCN0551.jpeg

[TUbajohn20J]

- Complete overhaul and bright silver plate

Mr. Tuba has provided excellent service and craftsmanship, and a very short lead-time!
He has a wealth of experience in these (and other) instruments, I can highly recommend working with him

DSCN0551.jpeg

Wow! With results like that I can imagine him getting a few more inquiries about overhauls. I know I'm going to check with him about getting one of mine done now. That's a beautiful horn