possibly today: century-old bottom bow seam repair...

[the elephant]

I wore 58x32 jeans for many years. Currently, I am wearing 52x32 or 52x30 from my "old jeans" supply. (Some of these perfectly good pants were purchased in 1998 and some in 1995, believe it or not.) The current "news" is that the 52s fall off of me when I stand up unless my belt is mighty tight.

[Note that the elephant wears his pants a la Fred Mertz — over the gut.
If he wore them under the gut (which looks just as ridiculous to him as
how over-the-gut might look to many of you) he thinks he would be
wearing a 44 or thereabouts. This figure is given as a size reference
for all of you under-the-gut-pants-wearing boys and girls.]

To keep this comment on the topic at hand, I have to search several boxes of old wiring to find some solid copper conductor wire with a gauge similar to what Joe is using here. I will use this to see if salvaging the BBb 186 project horn's bottom bow.

Tuba, tuba, tuba, tuba; on-topic tuba blather.

[Three Valves]

[Note that the elephant wears his pants a la Fred Mertz — over the gut. If he wore them under the gut (which looks just as ridiculous to him as how over-the-gut might look to many of you) he thinks he would be wearing a 44 or thereabouts. This figure is given as a size reference for all you under-the-gut-boys.

You are correct, sir!!

[bloke]

Whether epically overweight, slightly overweight, about right, or underweight (and I've been all, over the last three decades), I've always worn trousers at the waist.
Regardless of how ~I~ look, trousers always look best worn that way.
Having the "giant gut titty" hanging over low-rise trousers looks absolutely ridiculous.

tuba-related:

The stereotypical tuba player is thought to be fat.

ANOTHER thread-related:

The long pieces of F. E. Olds GG contra bow rib wire have been stripped of their chrome and nickel by Anderson, and are on their way back.
The re-engraved bell should arrive back just after the Thankgoodness holiday.
I'm interested in getting back to that project.
I'm much more interested in having/playing the completed instrument than I am getting back to the project.

work-related

Today, I repaired the 5th valve linkage on a locally-owned Cerveny model 601 C tuba, and removed some dents from the bows and bell.
Being very thin brass, there were some narrow compound creases just past the kranz about 30% of the way around the bell ("here and there").
The dent-hammer-covered-with-cloth method didn't work (as the subsequent roller smoothing put the metal right back the way it was before), so I had to get the Ferree's roller shoe edge right up next to the edge of the kranz (at a treacherously steep angle) with a flat roller on the inside, and roll out those compound creases - keeping the sharp edge of the shoe right next to the edge of the kranz while holding the entire behemoth tuba up in the air and mounted on the machine. It worked very well. The owner smiled, and paid me.
----------------------------
I also replaced the mouthpipe tube (the original was 1980's, and seriously red-rotted) with a nickel-brass one on a model 188 tuba, as well as removing quite a few dents throughout, repairing some very serious main tuning slide damage, venting all the rotors, and (oh of course!) "tweaking" the instrument.
I did not "whisper" the tuba, because I do not know what that is. Even without any whispering, in my estimation, the amount the model 188 tuba has gained in monetary value greatly exceeded the customer's cash outlay on parts and repairs. Those customers (father and son) drove about nine hours to get here to have me do that stuff. They're nice people, and - being such - they paid me. They are sleeping upstairs, and will head home in the morning. The 18-year-old young man plays quite well.
-----------------------------
I wore those filthy/baggy trousers yet again, today, and in front of all of those customers.

bloke's updates on Mrs. bloke's dogs and cats:

none at this time, but check back often.

updates on miscellany:

I'm long-term loaning a car (that we do not need, but do not wish to sell) to my boss (MD).
This is good, as the car will be regularly running, and the battery will stay charged.
I do not know if he owns any dogs and cats, but he does shave his head.

general updates:

Please refer to the "updates" thread.

clarifications on German-style vs. American-style:

https://tinyurl.com/German-style-vs-American-style

question for Mark Finley:

In your opinion, how long should this f'ed-up picture remain in my signature?

[bloke]

Whether epically overweight, slightly overweight, about right, or underweight (and I've been all, over the last three decades), I've always worn trousers at the waist.
Regardless of how ~I~ look, trousers always look best worn that way.
Having the "giant gut titty" hanging over low-rise trousers looks absolutely ridiculous.

tuba-related:

The stereotypical tuba player is thought to be fat.

ANOTHER thread-related:

The long pieces of F. E. Olds GG contra bow rib wire have been stripped of their chrome and nickel by Anderson, and are on their way back.
The re-engraved bell should arrive back just after the Thankgoodness holiday.
I'm interested in getting back to that project.
I'm much more interested in having/playing the completed instrument than I am getting back to the project.

work-related

Today, I repaired the 5th valve linkage on a locally-owned Cerveny model 601 C tuba, and removed some dents from the bows and bell.
Being very thin brass, there were some narrow compound creases just past the kranz about 30% of the way around the bell ("here and there").
The dent-hammer-covered-with-cloth method didn't work (as the subsequent roller smoothing put the metal right back the way it was before), so I had to get the Ferree's roller shoe edge right up next to the edge of the kranz (at a treacherously steep angle) with a flat roller on the inside, and roll out those compound creases - keeping the sharp edge of the shoe right next to the edge of the kranz while holding the entire behemoth tuba up in the air and mounted on the machine. It worked very well. The owner smiled, and paid me.
----------------------------
I also replaced the mouthpipe tube (the original was 1980's, and seriously red-rotted) with a nickel-brass one on a model 188 tuba, as well as removing quite a few dents throughout, repairing some very serious main tuning slide damage, venting all the rotors, and (oh of course!) "tweaking" the instrument. I might wager that very few people would guess that the mouthpipe has been replaced, as no lacquer either on the bell nor upper bow was burned.
All of that having been said, I did not "whisper" the tuba, because I do not know what that is. Even without any whispering, in my estimation, the amount the model 188 tuba has gained in monetary value greatly exceeded the customer's cash outlay on parts and repairs. Those customers (father and son) drove about nine hours to get here to have me do that stuff. They're nice people, and - being such - they paid me. They are sleeping upstairs, and will head home in the morning. The 18-year-old young man plays quite well.
-----------------------------
I wore those filthy/baggy trousers yet again, today, and in front of all of those customers.

bloke's updates on Mrs. bloke's dogs and cats:

none at this time, but check back often.

updates on miscellany:

I'm long-term loaning a car (that we do not need, but do not wish to sell) to my boss (MD).
This is good, as the car will be regularly running, and the battery will stay charged.
I do not know if he owns any dogs and cats, but he does shave his head.

general updates:

Please refer to the "updates" thread.

clarifications on German-style vs. American-style:

https://tinyurl.com/German-style-vs-American-style

question for Mark Finley:

In your opinion, how long should this f'ed-up picture remain in my signature?

[bloke]

customer update:

They received it back, and claim to be happy with it.

[LargeTuba]

Just out of curiosity how much did this operation cost? I have a bottom bow with a couple of holes in it.

[bloke]

We traded out for some parts I needed. Afterwards, they continuously tried to pay me some money, and I refused, because that wasn’t the deal.

Email me some pictures, and please don’t zoom in too close - to where I can’t tell what I’m looking at.

[djwpe]

This is probably gross...but I tend to wear (those sorts of "work") jeans for a couple of weeks, these days, before washing them.
They never seem to smell of "me", but of cut wood (both lumber and firewood), chainsaw exhaust, smoke, automotive/mower parts, buffing dirt, brass, grease, oil, lacquer ingredients, plain ol' dirt/turf, and the like.

Of course, I change out of that crap, even if I'm going to the hardware store, or if a customer is on their way...

This reminds me of a steamfitter I worked with many years ago. Most of his colleagues took their work clothes home from the job site weekly to get washed. This guy was more on a monthly basis, and the joke was that those pants stood up on their own in the corner of the shanty by the end of the month.

[iiipopes]

This is probably gross...but I tend to wear (those sorts of "work") jeans for a couple of weeks, these days, before washing them.
They never seem to smell of "me", but of cut wood (both lumber and firewood), chainsaw exhaust, smoke, automotive/mower parts, buffing dirt, brass, grease, oil, lacquer ingredients, plain ol' dirt/turf, and the like.

Of course, I change out of that crap, even if I'm going to the hardware store, or if a customer is on their way...

This reminds me of a steamfitter I worked with many years ago. Most of his colleagues took their work clothes home from the job site weekly to get washed. This guy was more on a monthly basis, and the joke was that those pants stood up on their own in the corner of the shanty by the end of the month.

And then there was the time that the clothes standing up in a corner was for the completely opposite reason: in my "prior life," having a shirt-and-tie day job, I mentioned to my then-wife that I liked a little starch in my shirts, especially collar and cuff to look good for clients, court, juries, etc. She took me at my word. When I came home, she had all my dress shirts in the living room starched so hard that they all stood up like toy soldiers in a row, each supported by its own the tail and both sleeves. I got the hint, and from then on, I laundered my own shirts.