I asked Dan about how to fit the two bell parts together, he suggested cutting triangles out of the flare to decrease the throat....
MISTAKE #1
I had flared out the baritone bell stack to nearly match the bell flare taper, but still couldn't get it close enough.
Then, I cut about a quarter inch of the large end of the stack to decrease some of the extreme flaring at the edges. This was to help mate the two sections together. Asking Dan what to do next was not very helpful - he wasn't sure but gave me a suggestion to just start brazing the two section together.
MISTAKE #2
I had to cut more of the bell stack off, about another quarter inch, as it wasn't touching the inside of the bell at all. The overlaps of the brass on the flare - should have cut them off - meant that I was brazing unevenly and effective filling large gaps with brazing wire.
MISTAKE #3
Once I had brazed the first half (in thirds around the bell), I had to hammer the section together more and flatten out the overlap so I could braze some more.
MISTAKE #4
In realizing that I was just screwing up, I figured out that I should have soft soldered the parts together, that way if I had to adjust something I wouldn't have to cut it apart. The triangles I had cut from the bell didn't help, I was left with ugly gaps and three small holes where the bell stack didn't go far enough down (I still need to fill those).
The bell was together, but was EXTREMELY UGLY. I started filing and hammering, and filing, and hammering, on both the outside and inside until I got something sort of smooth. The problem with the triangle cutting was that I had uneven flaring on the bell, meaning that I have I think two flat spots that WILL NOT come out because there is too much brass in that area to move.
I'm probably going to have to apply two ring patches around the inside of the bell and on the outside to cover the massive EYESORE and make something that looks a little better.
On the plus side I tacked it on to the body and now it actually looks like a french horn....
Unfortunately....
I screwed up the leadpipe. I found the right position but kept thinking about having a removable leadpipe like a crook extension on a french horn. I decided to bend it by hand.
MISTAKE #5
Leadpipe is trashed, it might work if I need it to, but for now I'll have to find and pay for another.
During the final hour of the day I decided to begin strapping the slide crooks to smooth out the hammer marks from bending. Well, I must have not hammered enough because I strapped a hole right into the first crook trying to remove the hammer marks - must have been a ridge there.
MISTAKE #6
Tomorrow I'll be bending a new first valve crook.
