New to me old Yamaha tuba.

[odubhain82]

Hi all.
My Ebay win arrived today.
Yamaha YBB 102. Rough but playable.
Not much info on these on the net.
Any thoughts welcome.
I'm using a euphonium mouthpiece
until my tuba one arrives. Plays in tune
fairly well though.

[odubhain82]

PSX_20200103_190812.jpg

[toobagrowl]

The little YBB-102 is a 3/4 BBb tuba that has long been discontinued. Was the very first tuba I played back in the day. It's been over 25+ years, but I thought the YBB-102 (not to be confused with the large 4/4, still-made YBB-201) was sweeter/mellower in tone than the 3/4 King 1140. I thought it played well as a kid; not a very loud/big sound, but again, it's only a small 3/4 tuba.
And I woud probably say it (YBB-102) is a little sweeter/mellower in tone than the modern 105/621 bugle Yamaha uses for their 3/4 tubas. I'm not really into 3/4 tubas so much, but I wish Yamaha kept making that 102 model, weird leadpipe, weird tubing and all

[odubhain82]

It's my first experience with tuba
and I'm pleasantly surprised at how
playable it is, even with or due to the
euphonium mouthpiece.
When you describe it as small I have
to laugh as its huge to me, compared
to the other brass I have...cornet and eupho.

Hopefully I won't need spare parts as I'd
imagine they would be even more rare here
in Ireland. It is playing and sounding pretty
good( to me anyway) but I would like to sort
out the major flattened area shown in the photo.
I had a quick go at it with a 40mm ball and
magnet but they weren't strong enough.
I figure I'll have to desolder the bow to get in
there properly unless anyone has better advice.
No panic on that for the moment though as I just
get to grips with playing it.

[tbonesullivan]

Oh wow. Yeah with the thick brass of a tuba, especially a student tuba, you're gonna need some serious dent lifting and shaping power.

[toobagrowl]

Yeah, your tuba is bashed in pretty flat on the side (where the top and bottom bow are connected at the ferrule). You will need to un-solder the top and bottom bows to re-round everything, including the connecting ferrule -- dent balls and magnets won't be strong enough for that.

If you think the tuba plays/sounds good already, I can pretty much guarantee it will play/sound even better if you round out that side of your tuba. That is, if you think it is worth putting some time/money into it

[odubhain82]

Your right, I don't have a proper
magnet set up, it's not too bad
but it had no noticable impact
on the damage. I'll have to get
gas torch out. I have a decent
butane/propane one. I can spend
time no problem but my wife
doesn't share my view on spending
money on instruments. Hard to
blame her really as I do have the
beginnings of a decent collection.

The tuba went for about 120 dollars
on Ebay and with shipping to Ireland
it came to about 220 euro, which is a
steal for something modern ish and
playable. In Europe Ebay only has
expensive antiques of uncertain origin
in that price range so I'm delighted with
it. But it does have a slightly bass
saxophone sound to it on the lowest
notes I can get with the euphonium mp.
Slightly honky, if that's a term.

Anyway, I'll update with photos when I
take the plunge and put the heat on it!

[toobagrowl]

Well, it's your horn and your decision to do the work instead of taking it to a brass tech. If you can do it, great. You may also want to send a brush-snake thru the leadpipe, as it might be quite dirty. Get the valves and slides lubricated. And even a small tuba mpc like a Bach 25 will give a more characteristic sound than any euphonium mpc in that tuba