PT7 arrived today

[bort]

Many more details to come, but my PT7 arrived from Venezuela by way of Miami.

What a great playing tuba. Huge sound, extremely easy to play, and intonation is really, really good. Plus, it doesn't weight a million pounds.

Some shipping damage, but nothing severe.

This is going to be a lot of fun.

[Three Valves]

Nice, I’d like try a toot on a PT-605 one day.

Wow, from Venezuela??

BTW~Is some kid in TX selling your old horn??

[joshealejo]

Great to know, Brett! Daniel was very arefuly as I told you!

[Ken Herrick]

Good to hear you've got it!

Enjoy

[Voisi1ev]

Sweet, new horns are super exciting.

[THE TUBA]

What? No pictures??

[bort]

Pictures soon!

The damage is a few bell creases (nothing nearly as bad as my old Rudy Meinl which got smashed in shipping), a few dents in the bottom now (seem removeable), and the 4th valve is seized up. The valves were out of the tuba during shipping, so it either has some rogue Styrofoam or might be a dent in the casing (I think it's a dent). Something for the repair person to fix.

I have it scheduled to go to the shop in a few weeks (soonest possible time).

All things considered, the tuba flew 2 flights from Caracas to Miami, and took Greyhound from Miami to Minneapolis, only in a gig bag. (Believe me, this was absolute last choice, and Daniel had a GREAT box/crate built for shipping... but the airline wouldn't allow to fly with the wood [foreign organic material]). To have only a few fixable damages is a win in this case (standards are different here, given the difficulty of shipping).

In all fairness, shipping a 6/4 tuba is always difficult, but especially difficult internationally... and even moreso from Venezuela.

But, anything is possible, with patience and a trustworthy seller. Daniel Sanchez went above and beyond, and was just great to do business with. If this were a smaller tuba, I am sure that shipping would have been far quicker and easier.

Photos to come... it has some dents and a good bit of lacquer wear, but overall it's in pretty good shape. Most importantly, it plays really well.

[Eastman]

Congrats to your PT7. A great but not often seen horn. Very easy to play for the size. I have one since about ten years and I would never sell it

[TheDancingSousa]

All things considered, the tuba flew 2 flights from Caracas to Miami, and took Greyhound from Miami to Minneapolis, only in a gig bag.

I think my heart seized up a little from reading that. Well, either it's that or the cholesterol...

[Tom]

All things considered, the tuba flew 2 flights from Caracas to Miami, and took Greyhound from Miami to Minneapolis, only in a gig bag.

I think my heart seized up a little from reading that. Well, either it's that or the cholesterol...

+1, agreed!

That's really unbelievable. You're a braver fellow than I am, Mr. Bort. Glad to hear there was a positive outcome.

[bort]

Yeah, that was definitely about the 7th or 8th backup plan to put the tuba under the plane this way. There was some extra packing material in the gig bag, too. At some point though, the tuba just had to get from point A to point B. If nothing else, it's a pretty good story.

[bort]

Here's a photo of the tuba, with a link to more:

Webp.net-resizeimage (2).jpg

https://tinyurl.com/The-PT7

I didn't get a chance to mess around with it much this weekend, but after a few days off, the damage doesn't look as bad as I had remembered it. The bell isn't too bad, and for the 4th valve it's definitely got something up with the casing, but it's not completely stuck. There are a few sizeable dents, but they seem to be mostly in the largest pieces of tubing. Hopefully not too hard to remove.

There are a few dents in the leadpipe, so that will need to be addressed as well.

The outside of the bell still has lacquer. The inside of the bell and just about the rest of tuba is raw brass. You can see all of the seams in the tubing of the large branches, which is always pretty cool to me. The bottom bow appears hand-hammered... which I was previously told about Neptune and PT7 tubas this was regularly the case. It's just such a large part, and infrequently manufactured, it was always done individually by hand.

The serial number is 328585... I asked Bob Tucci about dating the tuba from this number, and he has no record of the instrument. There's also a number 002016 on the outside of the first valve casing. Each valve is also stamped with 2016, so I'm assuming this is just a serial number for the valve block.

I'm sure I'll find other things here and there as the tuba and I get to know each other. Otherwise... a very fun tuba to play. I like it a lot.

[joh_tuba]

For a very long time.. until the 90s anyhow.. all B&S bows were hand hammered and then belt sanded smooth on the outside. More recent B&S tubas are definitely not made this way and other cost cutting labor saving methods have been employed that may or may not affect how the horn performs.

What you are seeing with the aligator appearance is a result of a tech using a magnetic dent tool on the bottom bow. When you do that it pulls the hand hammered marks from the *inside* of the bow to the outside.

[bort]

Thanks... and yeah, that's what I had assumed happened on that part of the tuba. Not ideal, but wasn't a deal breaker.

[bort]

Thanks Joe -- but I'm already on the schedule for my repairperson for early September. Only about 3 miles from home, and across the street from the new home of Cronkhite gig bags (should I decide to get a new bag for it).

[ronr]

Yay Laurel!

[toobagrowl]

Those bell creases and other issues should be fairly easy to fix for a good brass tech.
So how does this play and compare to the Neptune you had?

[bort]

So how does this play and compare to the Neptune you had?

It's more similar than different. In all fairness, I haven't even owned the PT7 for a week yet, and the alternate fingerings with no 4th valve are kind of odd.

Overall though, I think the sound is similar, possibly the Neptune was a broader and the PT7 a little more direct. There is a noticeable difference in the bell flare and sizes. The Neptune bell is huge, 20.5 inches and a big pancake at the end. The PT7 is (I think) 19.5", and not as much pancake. Much different feel to hold the tuba, and the PT7 easily fits in my trunk (the Neptune could just barely be made to squeeze in there).

Intonation on the PT7 is very, very easy... same as it was on the Neptune. Response is super quick, and the middle to upper range really sings. The low register is easier on the PT7, and I thought it was easy on the Neptune. Get this 4th valve working and this tuba will really do some damage in the basement.

The Neptune felt a little funky around the low Db... neither 235 nor 24 were very solid. Not terrible, but in the way that rotary tubas need a different approach on some notes... that was needed there. The PT7 is very even throughout.

Negatives... of course there will be some. But, it's been 6 days, and these are all initial impressions. As I say, the only thing you really get out of a play test or trial is enough information to decide if you want to buy the tuba. From these 6 days, yes, of course I want to buy this tuba (and I'm very happy that I did).

It'll take weeks or months to really get to know it and see what it can do, can't do, could do better, does better than anything else... so I won't give any wild superlatives about it being the best ever, or the most incredible tuba I've owned, etc.

I'll just say that I've liked everything about it so far, and it has exceeded my expectations. I'm looking forward to learning and playing this tuba.

[bort]

When do you think you'll have the repairs completed?

It goes to the shop on September 5th.

[bort]

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed... because I am really enjoying playing on pistons.

The PVAK is a little noisy, but I knew that... and I'm getting used to it.