Show off your bell-front tuba!

[Sousaswag]

@MiBrassFS posted this idea in another thread of mine, and I thought it would be fun to get this going.

You never really see bell-front horns out in the wild too often, so show yours off here!

Here's mine - A freshly put together Holton BB-350. I don't know if they ever made these with the valve section it has; The only others I've seen had the sousaphone-style slide layout, but I like this better. Regardless, it's all Holton.

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Next to my Meinl Weston

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And next to a Conn bell-front euphonium.

[York-aholic]

1928 York 736 (26” fixed recording bell) next to 1940 York 712

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[York-aholic]

1935 King CC

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[MiBrassFS]

I know there’s an Olds Studio bell front baritone somewhere here, but in tubas right now this Richards/Reynolds/Martin “Medium” in fiberglass is the only bell front tuba. It’s really a lot of fun. One of the first contrabass tubas I owned was a bell front 3 valve compensating Besson in satin silver that’s long gone. It put out some sound.

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[Sousaswag]

That is a really cool instrument. Is it fragile? I always remember reading on the old forum that those Olds and Reynolds fiber horns got very brittle.

[MiBrassFS]

I’ve owned two of these. The first was pretty beat, but still solid. The bell had taken a hit and been repaired. No problems others than that. They seem pretty solid and the ones I’ve seen have survived pretty well, if they weren’t trashed like so many fiber sousas… The only common repairs seem to be reattaching the occasional brace foot to the fiberglass. This one, which is slightly earlier in the run, is the nicest one of these I’ve seen. Really great shape. They were only made a few years from around 1960 to about 1963 (So, they’re all over 60 years old). They’re not in any catalog after that. The company was in flux. Paul Richards had some grand plans for RMC/Martin, including these, but stepped down in 1963. This tuba actually carries the “Richards Reynolds” name and not the “RMC” engraving, so that’s kind of interesting. Fun to have and really fun to play. It plays really well, like a Martin “Medium” in fiberglass, which is what it is!

[York-aholic]

. It plays really well, like a Martin “Medium” in fiberglass, which is what it is!

Quite true. He’s its brass brother that I used to own. Medium, certainly smaller than Mammoth. Played great!

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[Sousaswag]

Love the proportions of that horn!

When I was in college without a horn for a while, I played a 4v recording bell Mammoth. The size rivaled this BB-350. What a great instrument.

[York-aholic]

Love the proportions of that horn!

When I was in college without a horn for a while, I played a 4v recording bell Mammoth. The size rivaled this BB-350. What a great instrument.

I'll tell you, when fitting a Holton 340/345 bell into the big end of a Martin Mammoth bottom bow, I had to trim a decent bit off the bottom of the Holton bell small end so it would be big enough to properly fill the Mammoth bow.



Have you seen the pictures of some of the custom sized bells Martin made for the Mammoths? One gentleman owns one with a 30" recording bell. Yikes!

[dp]

York 696 CC

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[York-aholic]

My 712 envy’s your 696’s thumb ring.Heck, my 736 has thumb ring envy for your 696.

[Sousaswag]

Is that a factory CC? Way cool.

[sdloveless]

Here's my King 1240 in the original (absolutely monstrous and unwieldy) case. The mouthpiece is an H.N. White 25 "Equa-True".

[Tubajug]

Here's the Martin Mammoth I owned, fixed up, and sold:

[Sousaswag]

@Tubajug how did you accomplish that finish? I’d like my Holton to look like that. I read through your thread, but am not sure I totally understand what you did!

I bet that horn was a player!

[gocsick]

My very pedestrian workhorse Conn 20J and a 1946 York (YARK with the triangle O) bellfront baritone.

The 20J gets used for several street band gigs.. sometimes my son joins and he plays the sousa and I will take the 20J. Sometimes I am in tight quarters and the 20J in a harness is less unwieldy than a sousaphone. Technically it belongs to a friend (a damn fine trumpet and sax player).. but he pretends he might ask for it back one day... and I pretend I will give it back if he does. He's happy it's getting used. His wife is happy it's not taking up space in their condo. I am very happy to play it. One day I will get the dings taken out of the leadpipe and knuckles.

The York baritone or American Euphonium has the sweetest sound ever. It is hard to see in the photo.... but the satin silver finish with the gold wash bell is pretty classy. It was an inexpensive cragslist find. I bought it because my daughter started to learn baritone in 5th grade band and my compensating Jinbao euph was too much for her. Grabbed this horn for less than a few months rent for a Yamaha from Music and Arts. Turns out I really like it a lot too. So much fun to play as long as you don't overly worry about being in tune. Valves are a little leaky too.. needs a heavy oil.

[Tubajug]

@Tubajug how did you accomplish that finish? I’d like my Holton to look like that. I read through your thread, but am not sure I totally understand what you did!

I bet that horn was a player!

It made quite a sound! Unfortunately, I needed the money more than I needed the sound...

I used green ScotchBrite pads on it. I rubbed them around the tubes, not up and down. It took a loooong time on a horn that size... I just rubbed it back and forth, keeping it perpendicular to the tube (trying to avoid diagonal or other errant scratches) until it was the brightness I wanted. For smaller tubes and inner areas, I cut the pads into strips and used both hands like I was "ragging" it when polishing.

[bloke]

I just uploaded some great pictures of mine to my MySpace account. Be sure and check them out!

[Eric Murphy]

@York-aholic I own that Martin Medium now. I'm working on replacing the leadpipe one it. The one that was on it has a bunch of pinholes in it, which I discovered when I was cleaning it. It still played great that way, but it obviously needed attention. I'm working on creating a setup that is very close to what was originally on it (bits and all). I really enjoyed playing it before I found the pinholes. I'm very excited to get it back together!

[York-aholic]

@York-aholic I own that Martin Medium now. I'm working on replacing the leadpipe one it. The one that was on it has a bunch of pinholes in it, which I discovered when I was cleaning it. It still played great that way, but it obviously needed attention. I'm working on creating a setup that is very close to what was originally on it (bits and all). I really enjoyed playing it before I found the pinholes. I'm very excited to get it back together!

Oh, that’s right. It did go to Lee’s didn’t it. I’m glad it has a good home. It was a hoot to play. Please send a picture when you get a chance. I had a top action with fixed upright bell that also played wonderfully. Martin really had those Mediums sorted out.