Pre-Spring Update?

It's been a while since I've played a tuba, but I have my Holton 345 out here in Arizona, just haven't taken the time to find a group to play with. I found another tuba I'd like to buy, but I can't afford it... unless I sell some things first... like the Holton....

In a couple weeks, I'll have my EEb subbass here as well, maybe a few other instruments too. Additionally, I'll be thinning the herd down to just a couple instruments - except for the planned projects.

Right now, I think I have "promised" my raincatcher to a guy in the Midwest, but the other instruments are essentially up for grabs. Here's a general idea on what I have - these will probably get listed on eBay (assuming my account was deactivated due to inactivity):

Olds Marching Trombone
King Marching French Horn
Yamaha YEP-201 body parts
Yamaha Bb piston block (.460")
Carl Fisher BBb 'Raincatcher' Sousaphone
Unmarked Eb 'tuba'
1930s York sousaphone body, bell, case and 1910s York valve assembly (no pistons)
Misc Frumpet bells

I also have a bunch of parts/tubes/braces and some baritone/euphonium cases, as well as some instruments I'm probably forgetting.

Instruments that need to be put back together:
1910s York Monster Eb helicon (19" bell, silver plated) and 1930s York Eb four-piston valve assembly (brass, lacquered)
Two "Barcone" mini sousaphones
Conn Bass/baritone bugle in G
Chinese Rotary Euphonium "Maestro"

I'll also be trying to complete the contrabass trumpet in F - I think I have all the parts necessary.

Also, while I have a 1935 King BBb tuba body/bell, I'm going to attempt to mount my Jumbo's valve section to it - make it removable to use on two instruments.

So, for the instruments I'll be keeping:
EEb subbass tuba
Buescher Eb helicon (17" bell)
King Jumbo sousaphone
King BBb tuba
Martin helicon project (convert to CC and return to owner)
Maybe the F contrabass trumpet

That's it for now. Maybe I'll take some video of me playing the 345 this coming weekend.

Also, I'm ditching photobucket in favor of imgur.

Recently, I received an update regarding the bass horn from the current owner. He's used it, that's the big thing, but better yet, it was recorded on video for some religious service in Europe. 

Anyway, he likes it and finds that it has good intonation, especially just picking it up and playing it without a warm-up.

Here are some photos:

There is video here:
Tim with bass horn and other instruments

I think he's playing it around the 11 minute mark and somewhere about a half hour or so in as well. Sounds great!

Eb Euphonium or Eb Mini-Tuba

I'll be starting a new instrument soon...

An Eb euphonium or Eb mini-tuba made from the body and bell of a Yamaha YEP-201 and the valve section from a small Buescher Eb helicon (bore measures around .595"). Not sure if it will use a tuba mouthpiece or a large tenor/bass trombone mouthpiece.

The body and bell need work, the body especially. I don't have a lot of tools for some of the dents, so I'm either going to be buying the tools needed or having the parts worked on by someone else. The rest of it is fairly straightforward - assemble the body so that it's in-tune with the pre-existing valve section in Eb.

In conjunction with the above, I'm starting another bass horn using an Eb Buescher helicon - it's the perfect size. The bell is 17-inches in diameter and the body is quite small, slightly larger than the Barcone body I used previously. Best of all, it has a very nice taper. I will either use a couple of different universal leadpipes to make it almost entirely conical or have a custom leadpipe made for it. The mouthpiece will be a bass trombone size.

Haven't quite figured out what key I'll put it in, but CC looks promising. I think I have another rotary valve that I can add that will have two slides -one to drop it into BBb and the other to act as the more standard long whole step.

Hand-stopping will be a little more difficult, given the larger bell, but I may some how try to figure out a bolstered leather glove of sorts to use.

I have something close to a lead on another Buescher Eb, I just need to bug the owner a little more!

I'll try to get a picture posted of the Buescher body and start another post on the Eb euphonium

Carl Fischer EEb Subcontrabass/Contrabass Tuba

Recently, I drove down to Cleveland at Academy Music to swap tubas - my 36K Monster for an EEb subcontrabass/contrabass tuba.

The Conn is a nice playing sousaphone (very similar in size to the 40K), but I definitely prefer King (HN White) instruments... but HN White never made a 'Giant' raincatcher (.750" bore)... Anyway, I couldn't pass up the chance to own a very unique and interesting tuba (though I try to find mostly sousaphones). Plus, I can take it to TubaChristmas and have the only 'subcontrabass' in the crowd!

It's a little difficult to play, but then I'm so used to playing BBb... that and I don't have a proper Euro-shank mouthpiece for it (the LM-12 doesn't cut it). Man, what a sound though!

Measurements:
Bell: 18"
Bore: .800"
Height: 38"
Weight: 26.2 lbs

The EEb was likely made by Bohland & Fuchs in the early 1900s-1920s and imported by Carl Fischer in New York. It bears the engraving of "U of I", likely from the University of Illinois. It's one of two known EEb basses, the other being the EEb "Majestic Monster" helicon imported by Louis B. Malecki in Chicago, IL and made in Austria.

It's rather odd that both EEb instruments are in the Great Lakes area - as one of the previous owners wondered: Who would need a EEb tuba or helicon? I would be very interested in knowing who these were built for and where they were played.

In any case, here is a picture next to my Holton 345 BBb and a medium-length video (please excuse my questionable playing):

BBb Bass French Horn

Just a final update on the Bass Horn - I've sold it to a tuba player in Europe. In an effort to save on shipping costs, I've gone ahead and added the bell collars from the original Barcone sousaphone. This reduces the bell length (from the lip to the narrow end of the throat) by about five inches... which should be enough to keep the shipping cost below 200... in two boxes.

It took a little measuring, but they fit fine. Not sure how this will change the pitch, other than lowering it just a bit. If you notice, it's lacking bell screws and flanges, as well as a brace. The reasons being that I have no bell screws on any of the Barcone sousaphones (I have no idea why - they're all missing them) and I don't have a way to make a removable brace for the bell.

Next on the plate, is either going to be the F contrabass trumpet or the start of a single CC Bass Horn. Both will be using smaller bore valve sections than are featured on other examples, and will both take a bass trombone size mouthpiece. One of the tuba players in the community band here in town has agreed to play-test the F contrabass trumpet (he plays a nice Yamaha 822 F tuba), so I will at least be able to get some better feedback on tuning and functionality. The idea is to use a contrabass trombone bell section with a smaller bore piston valve section, though I'll play around with the parts I have on hand until I hear back from Wessex Tubas about how much that bell is going to cost me. Yes, you read that right, I'm buying a Chinese-copy of contrabass trombone. It's cheaper than what I can get from Kanstul or Miraphone or Thein or Rath and will be just as good on what I'm making - prototypes.

The owner of the Eb contrabass flugelhorn is quite happy with his instrument. He sent some pictures of it at TubaChristmas, though most people thought it was just another marching baritone.

Now that the weather is warming up, I'll be able to once again post more frequently on the progress of various instruments.

I started the other day tearing down a rotary euphonium for the valve section - got it for cheap! I even have a lead on another one for just a little more than what I paid for this one.

Also, I picked up a Buescher Eb helicon with a tiny 15" bell which will serve as the body/bell for the new CC Bass Horn. The whole instrument is pretty small and easily fits my design. There's another Buescher Eb with a slightly larger bell (17") that I'm hoping to trade or buy, but need to work out the details. This will, if I can get it at all, replace the larger Barcone sousaphone body I have for the FF/BBb contrabass double horn. Yes, a true contrabass double horn in FF (24-25 feet) and BBb (18 feet). I think the Buescher body is the right proportion for such an instrument and certainly conical enough as is. Although there are a few more details to work out - EXPENSIVE double valve section!

Eb Contrabass Flugelhorn

After a longer than expected wait... here is the Eb Contrabass Flugelhorn:

It came out well, though a little over-budget and overdue. Some of the parts that were sent to me weren't ideal and new parts needed to be found.

The flugel is the same length of an Eb tuba - roughly 13.5 feet - and it has a 10" bell with a ~.560" bore. The receiver accepts a standard American-shank tuba mouthpiece. The client wanted an instrument could still use a tuba mouthpiece, but had a more appropriate bore than the travel/trolley tubas. There were some limitations:

1. It needed to be as small as possible, both side to side and bell to bow.
2. Easy access to the left side to hold the instrument while playing.
3. Able to use a tuba mouthpiece.

The flugel went through a couple iteration to get the slides in the right positions and maintaining a small package. I had originally wanted two main tuning slides, one to serve as the main set slide and a second for fine-tuning like on Kanstul's marching tubas. Unfortunately, given the restrictions on space, I opted for on main tuning slide, though it could be modified later on (as you'll see further down in another picture) to serve as two slides.

As with most custom instruments, it has to be looked at as a prototype. As such, I expected there to be some odd intonation issues and some notes that would need alternate fingerings or lipping to bring these pitches in-tune. It sounds very much like a small-bore tuba - due, in part, to the nearly entire conical tubing. There are only a few parts that are cylindrical tubing. Some pitches still require alternate fingerings, but not unlike some tubas I play.

The receiver was kindly made by Kanstul Musical Instruments. All of the other parts were sourced from either marching baritones or, in the case of a crook on the third valve tubing, an HN White "KING" baritone bugle. The inner branches between the valve section and the two large branches before the bell were sourced from a junker tuba... that just happened to have the right bore and length...

Here are some more shots:

As you can see, the large W-shaped slide is the main tuning slide. This could be modified into two separate slides, one for the main set and the other for fine tuning. You'll also notice solder marks and other imperfections.... this is because I still lack the tools necessary to fix all the dents and a proper buffing machine to polish the parts. The best I can do, with what I have, is to give the finish a satin-look and wipe away excess solder.

The flugel might still be able to fit into a standard marching baritone case (with some interior modification) or in one of those aftermarket gigs bags from ProTec or Gard.

Here's a short-ish video of me playing on the Eb Contrabass Flugelhorn (it's going to take some time for the buyer to get used to how it plays):

With all the parts I've accumulated from this project, I will be building a couple of contrabass trumpets next. One will have four in-line pistons, while the other will have a thumb activated piston for the fourth valve. Since these will be trumpets, they will be roughly 2/3 cylindrical tubing, meaning if I built them in Eb, I would have almost nine feet of straight tubing - through valves and tight bends... not an ideal situation for a trumpet! So, I'm aiming for F - less tubing, lighter, and more in-line with the needs potential buyers.

Also on the docket:

- That Martin Eb (D) needs a fourth valve and maybe a fifth rotary valve for a slide-switch conversion to CC

- A custom JW York CC helicon (aiming to have this one bead blasted and silver plated), not unlike the famous Sellmasberger Buescher CC helicon:

- One or two more Bass French horns in CC and BBb

- Two or three more mini BBb and CC piston travel tubas, using a slightly larger body for a more tuba-like tone.

Some Updates

Recently, I acquired a number of instruments:

Three miniature sousaphones, a mellophone, a couple of helicons, a raincatcher sousaphone, and another tuba. Most of these instruments will be dismantled and turned into other instruments - like three more french horns and a few more mini-tubas.

On my move from Seattle, I came across a raincatcher Sousaphone at a TGIF restaurant. Sure, it had some holes in it and was considerably dirty/grimy, but how often do you find a raincatcher, let alone one you could buy because the restaurant was going to be remodeling the following week! Anyway, it's a Carl Fisher, probably late-1910s, maybe early 1920s. Definitely an import, but a nice example of a raincatcher Sousaphone.

I also bought a Martin Eb helicon, which may or may not be in the key of D - that's not a Low Pitch tuning, but the actual pitch of D. Evidently Martin made an extra long slide to place the key in D... for whatever reason. The helicon needs a little work, but is in quite good shape. The previous owner "suggested" that I convert it to CC and add a valve. I might, but I still need to find a Martin valve/casing and a whole bunch of Martin braces and tubing - it needs to look natural. On the other hand, I could add a rotary valve (with a thumb trigger) and make another set of slides to allow the instrument to play in CC or Eb. Harvey Hartman did this for one of his customers and I've heard of good results from others regarding such a "conversion".

Let's see... here are some quicks:

- Converted the bass trumpet to an alto in D (need to either cut to Eb or add a little more to C) with four valves.

- In the process of another alto in Eb with four in-line valves and a 7" Olds bell

- Attempting to sell the Bass Horn to fund a few more

- Bought a JW York Eb tuba in excellent condition... just needs a couple dents removed. Otherwise, it plays very well.

- Sold a couple of Getzen Eterna Bass trumpets.

The big news is I've got a customer wanting a contrabass flugelhorn in Eb. It's using a .560" marching baritone valve block and a considerable amount of conical tubing. The end result will hopefully be around the size of a standard marching baritone.

Coupled with that, I have enough parts and bells to make two contrabass trumpets in either Eb or F.

As for the Jumbo sousaphone, I sent the valve block off to NRE Brassworks to finish up the fourth valve tubing. There are some other small changes to the look, but I'll hopefully have it back in time for Purdue University's Homecoming. A friend of mine has a King Jumbo and another alumnus has one as well. Counting "Big Bertha" owned by Purdue, that's three Jumbo for their Homecoming. Once mine is up and running, I'll be bringing it down to Purdue to have one of the alumni players use it for the game, so that their will be FOUR King Jumbos in use - two three valve 1265's and two four valve 1266's! Just like the Pentwater Jumbo Summit of 2011.

Mini BBb Tuba or 1/4 BBb tuba

This is something I've wanted to do for a while...

Originally, I was going to use a large bore rotary valve set, but upon realizing that I need 15 ft of 3/4" tubing, I opted for a smaller valve set to reduce the weight.

Luckily, I found the Barcone sousaphone that was used for the Bass Horn. The valve set was a little on the small side - .545" - but I didn't have to make a main tuning slide or figure out some of the wrap.

I took the Getzen Baritone Bugle and mounted the rest of my King tubing (after bending them into large crooks) on to the valve section. The leadpipe came from the baritone jazzophone that I had scrapped a while ago for the valve section and modified the first slide into a top slide - it was very successful!

As for the tuba.... well, it's OK. It's about 24 inches tall and has a 10" bell. It plays OK in everything but the lower register - essentially anytime I have more than two valve down, it plays like a bucket, just super stuffy and narrow. It's a practice instrument: practice to see if something like this is possible, which it is, and practice as in something I can practice on if I'm traveling or in a car or bus or if I want to ride a bike somewhere and not lug around a 30+ pound tuba or sousaphone.

Old pictures without braces:

BBb Bass French Horn Finished! With Video!

About a month ago, I finished the bass horn, but never got around to updating this post.

So, without further ado - the conclusion of the BBb Bass Horn...

I decided not to bend the first valve crook, I didn't think I would have enough tubing left over to finish the fourth valve and have it still play in BBb. Instead, I split a piece of outer tubing down one side and covered the thin spot. It looks a bit odd, but doesn't leak!

Ben was kind enough to stand with the body to show an approximate size for some people that were interested in what I was doing:



I had at first thought of having a removable leadpipe, with a small crook loop, but upon bending it and trying to get it into the right shape AND still be sturdy enough ... I scrapped the idea in favor of a more traditional non-removable leadpipe.

In the next couple of days, in between normal class work - flute padding and trombone slide alignment - I began using what parts I had left from the euphonium to cobble together the rest of the fourth valve wrap and main slide. I used one of the smaller crooks for the second valve:



And fit the inner slides to the crooks (you can see the first slide patch). Before going on to solder all the fourth valve tubing together, I first went over to the main lathe and cut the inner and outer valve slides to the correct lengths - much easier than using the band saw! Each slide has about 4 inches of pull (8 inches total). Though, as I found out, the second slide can only be removed once the first slide has been. The first slide has an ever-so-slight bend that prevents the second slide from being pulled out more than an inch and a half. Of course, the way I play, I don't usually pull out second slide unless first slide is pulled out a bunch.

Sometime the next week or next couple days, I worked on the fourth valve wrap. I used some of the extra inner branches that I bent earlier (I had previously tuned the open bugle). At first, the slide was going to be pulled in the same direction as the main slide, but upon further experimentation, I realigned the tubing so that the slide would be pulled in the same direction as the other valve slides. In the following picture you can see the first attempt at the leadpipe on the left, the first attempt at the fourth wrap, and some approximation of where all the inner branches would be.



I noticed that the inner branches would interfere with the valve caps, so I had to move some of the tubing around so that I could still have access to the rotors for maintenance.

It was a frantic push to the end, as I think I only had a couple days left... Anyway, I began searching for braces and started mounting all the tubing. I bent the leadpipe, fit the slides, tuned the slides, and braced all the parts that needed bracing. I added a thumb hook, though Ben told me I needed a duck foot or some other support that rested on my finger instead of being held by my thumb. Drilled a hole for the only water key - an Amado - though I've discovered that I need at least 2 more to actually drain the water efficiently. I used most of the braces from the euphonium and a few from mini sousaphone. The others were various trumpet braces and some telescoping braces from cornet/trumpet.

I was going to use the Fred Young mouthpiece, but it had just a bit too much of a woofy sound. Fortunately, the Sellmansberger Solo #2 mouthpiece worked wonderfully. I owe this possibly to the fact that the mouthpiece is made to work with F and Eb tubas, but given the french horn length of an F tuba, I though it might work well with a rather cylindrical, almost contrabass trombone sized french horn. It really makes it sound like a french horn in certain registers.

Anyway, here are the final pictures. Since I didn't have enough time to buff all the parts, I decided to go with a scratch brush finish to simulate a satin finish. After playing it a few times over the next couple of days, I knew I couldn't keep the raw brass finish, so I took it over to Kennelly Key's up in Lynnwood and they sprayed a clear coat of lacquer over top. Yes, I know there are still patches of tinning and some heavy spots of solder, but for a PROTOTYPE, it works GREAT... though I still needs to cut the main slide an inch or so....

Hand tuning works just like on a normal french horn, though hand stopping is a little more difficult as the throat is larger than my hand.





As a size comparison, here it is next to the King 2350 and a King 1265 Jumbo sousaphone:



And some video!

Bass Horn Part 8 - AAARRGGGHHH!!!

AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

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.

Bass Horn Part 7

BENDING!

I didn't buy the right wood. I should have spent the money on actual timber, instead of the particle board. But it was cheap and I still have a 6' x 4' piece (cut into 2x2).

Anyway, bending the crooks was interesting.

The first valve crook took me about 4 hours in order to make it look right, it still isn't right and I have no desire to fill it with Cerrobend again, Dan thinks I should be able to slightly bend the tubing with a drumstick or mandrel. It's off by like three millimeters from parallel, it won't run inside the slide as smooth as needed.


The third slide was bit more involved but took less time as I had some practice bending the right curves. plus I had to make another tool and had to screw down more board to support the tube during the bending process.





I didn't think I could bend the tubing in a close enough curve (2.5 inches) without using an entire 30" tube (I have 6 left for the leadpipe/main-slide and the fourth valve), so I only bend the outer portion and used parts from my huge euphonium to complete the inner curve.


Oh, and I had little accident in filling a tube - didn't hold on to the cork...





Friday, I spent the day making ferrules and tacking the body together. I may need to flip the valves after-all...


Here are some pictures:

Bass Horn Part 6

Working on the valve block today didn't go quite as planned. I had hoped that the valve caps could be on top like they are on the French horn, but with the paddles flipped and the relatively short paddles, I couldn't fit the tubing around where needed, but most importantly get the correct height for the linkage to move freely.

I'm sure if I had more time I could machine a solid rise to sit between the two supports and the linkage bar, but trying to shim the two spots and still not achieving the right height was leading to more headaches than necessary. The work-around was to flip the section back over like you would find on a tuba... Sure you can still have access to the rotors for maintenance, but it loses some of it's Professional-Quality-Appeal. This does move the valves down and up a little, and should give me enough clearance to still depress the paddles. It should, if I wanted to and had better skills in the future, allow me to flip the valve section over again and use a new linkage set - maybe even strings!

I also filled the first branch after the valves with Cerrobend and bent the end toward the valve block. In draining the oil from the tube before filling with Cerrobend, I noticed a small crack in the seam. It's a little worrisome as this might lead to more crack, but it's in such a spot that I can cover it with a brace. Found a ferrule to fit the tube that I had torn through (old stupid mistake...) and made a ferrule for the two new inner branches. Then I cut the ends of the new inner branches and fit them together, then cut the first branch connecting to the valve section to the proper length to bring the tubing around as it should.

The current total estimate length, through the valves, leadpipe, two branches, body, throat and part of the bell (maybe) is around 178.5", this leaves me with about 37.5" to add between the leadpipe and the to inner branches. This is where it gets tricky....

I need to add the main tuning slide, but leave enough room to either cut tubing out to adjust the pitch up, or add a longer tuning slide to adjust the pitch down. This of course means I need to figure out the bell situation...

At the moment, the bell is in two parts. I have a throat from a euphonium/baritone bell, it fits the body collar perfectly and is just about the right length to fit with the design. The bell is the flare from the mini sousaphone - 19", again a near perfect fit for the design. The only problem is that the tapers of the two are different, meaning that I either have to make a new throat and mate it to the bell, or add a right of brass around the section where the two ends meet. The former would involve serious brazing and cutting tabs to join the main throat and then more tabs to join the ends with the bell - possibly more trimming of the bell inner throat. The latter would probably involve less work, but would look much worse (in my head). Of course if I could find a small 5.25" sousaphone collar, I could have a removable bell.

This is the next goal, although I could always start on bending the first and third crooks.

Of the parts I still need:
Braces (I should have the right ones)
Possible second valve crook from a King tuba/sousaphone
Possible trigger mechanism for the main slide and a thumb lever
Some other things I might think up...

Finish-wise, I buffed the leadpipe, though it has been drained of pitch as I still might need to bend it more or bend it back. When I'm done with it, I'd like to get it bead-blasted with bright trim and then a coat of lacquer, but that's just wishful thinking at the moment.

Updates all around!

BASS HORN 

Lots of progress made on the Bass Horn. My tubing showed up sometime in March and I purchased some Cerrobend - then found the paint can full of pitch.... Bought a pitcher, thermometer, pan, and electric hot plate to melt the Cerrobend. Also bought some wood and made the big jig and some drawings of the approximate sizes for the valve crooks.

In bending the tubing, I had to first fill each pipe with vegetable oil, drain it and then fill it with Cerrobend. Then let it sit in a cold bath for 30 minutes, before bending it into the curves I needed.

The first part didn't go to well, I over-annealed on 30+" tube and burnt two holes in it.... ugh.... Second and third try were much better, the the second tube suffered a kink during the bending process. So I had to hammer out the marks and then will have to sand the hammer marks off before buffing and assembly.

The next issue I ran into, was that I couldn't get the ends to be as curved as I wanted. I have a 17" circle by which I'm bending the tubing, but because I have about a 1/2 inch or so where I plugged the ends, I couldn't get the extra bit to be as curved. The solution was to take a smaller diameter circle and bend the ends around that. This helped especially for the tube leading into the valve section and will help when I bend the branch after the valve section (so that it meets up with the fourth valve).

I also bent the leadpipe and cut the end to match the receiver. Just need to buff it and burn out the pitch, then buff again...

On Friday, I got two of the inner bows in relative positions, although I may need to refill them in order to get the exact position... Not much time left. Still need to address the bell and the paddles for the valves.... OH and bend ALL THAT OTHER TUBING, though I might not have enough for the fourth valve if I screw up another 30+" tube. AND I need to find braces!

Finally, I'm almost done with my King Jumbo econo-overhaul. Just need to solder on the last two guard wires and do a final buff/polish/cleanup. I've buffed the bell with rouge two weeks ago, even got inside the back of the bell! I think there's some gold plating left back there. The body should look just as nice once I get around to polishing.

Before and After (almost)

Bass Horn Part 4

Took off all the tubing from the valve section, unscrewed the linkage finally, and ordered about 35 feet of tubing.

A little riser between the linkage and the posts will be enough to level out the arms and provide a smoother valve function.

Bought a leadpipe and found someone to make me a bass trombone sized french horn mouthpiece for a reasonable cost.

Bass Horn Part 3

Did some more work, well not much...

The rotor block and linkage has been giving me a lot of trouble. I had to use corrosion cracker three times under heat twice and about 5 days to free up the screws that held the linkage on the valve block. Once this was free, I unsoldered the braces, removed the tubing, and ultrasonically cleaned the valves and casings. No need for the tubing anymore!

Trying to figure out a way not to machine a whole bunch of new parts or trying to find parts to work, I looked at the linkage braces - these would work if I mounted them back on the valve block. I tried this, but soon discovered that, although the linkage hooked up with the stop arm on the rotor, it wouldn't fully depress. So now I either have to file off a millimeter or two from the braces or add a washer to each side to bring the linkage up. It should work since the distance between the "S" links and the stop arms doesn't change, just the height.

I had wanted to know where the valves needed to be and some length of the overall bugle, so I grabbed a F horn off the wall and started sizing things up to get the correct valve/left-hand placement. After that I started planning how I would add the extra tubing needed to drop the pitch to BBb. Unfortunately, this quick measurement gave me about 222" or 18.5 feet! And this was without a tuning slide! Now I'm going to have to readjust the open wrap in order to place a main tuning slide and still looks like a french horn.

Still need to find a leadpipe - it was recommended that I locate an Allied universal euphonium leadpipe, but I might have to have a custom leadpipe made to expand to the .687" bore needed for the main slide and the valve block. Also a mouthpiece that resembles a french horn mouthpiece but fits the bass trombone/tenor tuba shank receiver. Lastly a whole bunch of tubing to bend into shapes and most importantly ---- a collar and tenon for a removable bell!

Lots of work ahead....

Bass Horn Part 2

Worked on the bell today. Took a scrapped euphonium bell, cut the rim off and part of the throat to the approximate sizes needed.

Unfortunately the rate of expansion of the euphonium bell is slight more that the taper on the sousaphone bell. I'm going to try and see if I can mount a male/female collar/tenon for a removable bell right where those parts are so that the difference in the tapers won't be as obvious.

Otherwise.... It looks good!

Custom BBb Bass French Horn

I like bass versions of instruments, hence why I built a bass trumpet.... Way back in grade school, I started on French Horn and played it for a few years until the middle of 8th grade, when I switched over to tuba. Sometime ago, I ran across Roger Bobo's Bass Horn in CC and then saw Tim Sullivan's CC version using a sousaphone body.

Both of these are interesting instruments - Roger's is close to a french horn in terms of it's design, while Tim's is like the second or third movie of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! (Honey, I Blew Up the Kids!) and is a mammoth/jumbo french horn.

The one thing I don't like about Roger's is that there are several loops after the valve section, where as on a French Horn, there's only one loops and then the bell.

On Tim's I'm not a fan of the short leadpipe - it works for him and that's what matters most.

For me though, I thought about using a Buescher Eb helicon, but this was just a bit too big and would require another wrap of tubing like Roger's bass horn.

So I came across an ad for a mini sousaphone - one of those Barcone Italian-made mini sousaphones that have a tiny bore and are very much a 'joke' instrument. This was about the perfect size for the body and the bell was about the right size, so I bought it. It showed up and was better than I hoped, well for the most part.

Naturally, a French Horn has to have rotary valves, I took a tenor tuba or the world's largest euphonium and removed the valve section. It's a four valve rotary block with about a ~.684" bore, I should be able to make the King standard parts work instead of trying to find more of this tubing or drawing the tubing to several sizes. The best part is that the valve section nearly fits right where the valves would be on a French Horn! I still need to remove all the tubing and flip the block over and figure out how to make the linkage work...

Anyway, The body was dismantled and the original valve section removed, then buffed and set aside while I worked on the bell. Removing the collar and the bell tenon, leaves just the bell flare. I need to find either a baritone bell to use for the throat or make a new section to fit between the bell flare and the body joint. I've measured the placement and I need about 7 inches between the body and the bell, but an 8 inch section of a bell to fit the body... I may have a baritone bell to use for this. Then I will have to cut the middle and splice in the removable collar and tenon, so that the bell can fit into a more convenient case.

The bell is 19-inches and the body is about 21 or 22 inches wide. Hand-stopping should still work fine on this.

Bass Trumpet

Finished with the Bass Trumpet:

Here's a video