Dillon 'new parts' 6/4 CC piston tuba

[bisontuba]

HI-
Here is Dillon's 'new parts' CC 6/4 CC tuba-4 piston, 1 rotor-$12K--is this the horn Matt made? mark

http://www.dillonmusic.com/HeleoCart/Pr ... -1185.aspx" target="_blank

[Jonathan Fowler]

That is indeed it. Hands down, the best big horn I've ever played. That includes the Hirsbrunners and Yamayorks...

Light, responsive, even, in tune and with a monster sound.

Steve Skov was lucky enough to get the first one (check him out on youtube, playing with Boston Pops at NBA game 5 last weekend - referenced in a recent "Who's playing tuba" thread)

jon

[The Big Ben]

HI-
Here is Dillon's 'new parts' CC 6/4 CC tuba-4 piston, 1 rotor-$12K--is this the horn Matt made? mark

http://www.dillonmusic.com/HeleoCart/Pr ... -1185.aspx" target="_blank" target="_blank

That looks pretty good.... Anyone know who made the parts Matt used?

[bort]

My guess is the parts are made in China, shipped to NJ, and the it's reworked assembled and fit by Matt. But that's a wild guess because 1) it seems so secretive now (if they were made in NJ, or USA, or another "tuba" country, wouldn't they want to say so?) and 2) there are other "Dillon" line tubas made in China.

If Matt or Steve chime in, we'll all find out for sure. This is just my guess. Although, I guess as well, if a China-part tuba plays so unbelievably well, they might want the world to know that too. Or not, like who g.a.s. where the parts came from, just play it.

So, who knows.

My guess was wrong.

[Matt Walters]

Thank you for the interested in our Dillon DCB-1185 tuba. Most European tuba companies outsource many of the parts they use in building their tubas. One company spins the bell, another makes valve sections, and others make water keys, pull rings, and thumb rings. Even Miraphone who produces about all the parts in house, get's their Minibal linkage made for them. Our Dillon DCB-1185 tuba is no different in that regard.
None of the parts for this tuba came from China. I wish I could buy all the raw parts from China. For the amount of money that I have to pay at dealer cost to buy the raw parts to build just one of my DCB-1185 tubas, I can buy three (3) of those 4 piston, 5th rotor Chinese built BBb tubas fully assembled and lacquered.
To answer the question "What parts are used on that horn?", I'm not going to tell you. And even if I gave you my parts list, everything except the piston valve section was modified in some way. Let me put it this way; you're free to watch the game on Sunday but I doubt the football teams are going to start posting their playbooks online. We are only offering two a year beginning in 2011 becasue it is still a labor intensive project that will take me away from shop repairs and trying to catch up with long overdue projects.
Below is something I wrote about my design thoughts in building this tuba.

Details: The Dillon DCB-1185 CC tuba has spent years in experimentation to come up with a reproducible tuba with the right sound, intonation, response and ergonomic comfort that today’s professional tuba player is looking for. The body of this large tuba is made of a lighter gauge yellow brass yielding a sweet resonant sound quality with a unique fundamental to overtone ratio. The European built valve section is braced to only the smaller #2 and #3 branches, thus leaving the bell, bottom bow, and #1 (top) branch freer to resonate. Since we then had a very resonant horn, we could solder the leadpipe onto the bell to get more stability in articulation and response. The main tuning slide has plenty of pull length and the crook itself can be cut shorter to accommodate those who play on the flat side. The bottom 3rd and 4th valve slides have long ferrules that give easier access to the 5th rotor valve for maintenance. The bottom valve caps are very accessible once the 5th valve slide with its longer ferrules is removed. The weight of the valve section is mounted on the bell side of center to give a “neutral lap” thus avoiding “left side heavy” issues that other big tubas inflict upon the musician. The adjustable thumb ring was mounted for a more universal comfort in reaching the valves. Only after the thumb ring was installed in an ergonomically advantageous location was the 5th valve linkage created. Finally, the horn was designed so that the leadpipe would be long enough to give us more leeway in making custom tapers and installing the leadpipe higher or lower to fit the individual owner.

[iiipopes]

It is always good to read an actual thoughtful approach to making an instrument. Thanks, Matt!

[Adam C.]

Steve Skov was kind enough to visit today and let me try his new horn. Matt Walters really did a super job with this instrument. It's a big horn with a big, really colorful sound. "Compact 6/4" was used to describe it - I agree with that. Usually when you pick up a new instrument there is a learning curve of finding the balance, slides, piston feel, etc; everything seemed to be exactly where I wanted it to be on this horn. I can appreciate that on a big tuba. The low register, in particular, spoke exceptionally well. Intonation was really good. I only played for an hour or so, and wanted to play more. It was a fun blow, for sure!

Thanks Steve!

[tubaskiv]

Hello,

If anyone is in the Boston area and would want to give the new Dillon 1185 a try, let me know. I do not check this forum very often but will attempt to be "more better" about checking. If you're not too far away from Boston, I might be able to come out on a weekend. Only thing is, being back in school can have its limitations.

Try this:
tubaskov {at} hotmail {dot} com

Have a tuba-tastic day!