I did consider that, but in the end, this was easier. I actually went back and forth for quite a while trying to decide if I wanted to cut, grind, and shape the brass rod or find some braces. When I found these that fit with just a readjustment of the curvature of the feet, I went the easy route...bloke wrote:If you've not yet soldered those casing braces in place, how about (though your spacing isn't the same) making them from some brass rod that's the same diameter as the other casings' braces?
I know it doesn't look "original," but in my mind, I plan on using this horn for a while (aka, I'm not building it to sell it), and it's in a rather hidden spot on the horn to the average onlooker, so I went with convenience. That and I'm really itching to get the 4th valve circuitry finished up and I didn't want to try and solder around all that extra tubing to brace that valve. I had put this off for quite a while and just moved on with the circuitry when I probably should have done this without any of the tubing on there at all.
Oh well, it's on now, it's functional, and I can keep moving! Although my new helicon is really tempting to start tinkering with...focus Jordan, focus!
SIDEBAR - What I would love to do is have my helicon straightened out in time to play for our band alumni game at UNL this fall AND get this Eb project done before December so that I can take a different horn to a couple different Christmas events. We'll see if time is on my side in that regard...we have a lot of home projects that need attention this summer as well...