Yeah, my ongoing unfinishedness is mostly cleaning up solder pads and streaks from assembly work. I was very neat and then did some extra careful cleanup for most of each horn's work, but at the final assembly of each, some things had to be heated and coaxed one way or the other for the two halves to line up as nicely (and as naturally) as I wanted. I was so stoked to finally be able to use them again at work that that is exactly what I did. And I have been pleased enough to not ever remember to go back in and finish cleaning up the messes.
I need to install three braces on the Mirafone, and they all have to be made from Jinbao parts as I have to custom fit (and angle) the base flanges to the posts and silver solder them together. Maybe I will do that when it is not so dang cold out there. (And when it is not cold, it is wet, or windy. I hate soldering outdoors. I am working on a plan to enclose at least part of my carport permanently, but there is a lot to do just to get the slab up to what I need, finish-wise. — $$$$$!!!!!)
The Holton's bell still needs a severe bashing to get it flat, but the metal memory from damage done prior to my buying this tuba causes the old screw-wrinkling across the engraving, and I do not want to cause that and then have to remove it again. I am afraid of cracking, though the metal is still very soft/pliable on the Fast Eddie. It is a final bit of work I may *never* do because of this. On the bell, it is wobbly, though. In my orchestra, we have enough dipsticks in the lower strings, that to lay the horn flat on the floor ensures it will be stepped on and badly damaged. If I leave it on the bell where it is just about impossible to miss some battleax cellist will leave the impression of her high heel on my bell flare. You can't win, sometimes. Also, I need to make a better lever since I am going to so much trouble to make a nice one for my F tuba, I can't have my silly-looking lever on my baby. Upgrade, improve, customize.
The F is just hanging around like a hungry dog awaiting parts from Deutschland. Once they get here I can build a new 5th valve section (while off of the horn) and then add a 6th valve section to that. Then I can figure out the attachment locations and method for the new two-lever rack that will live behind the 1st slide. Then the old 5th can come off and the new 5th/6th can go on and I can link them up. I am pretty excited about this modification.
Once that has been done I plan to go over every slide and brace to make sure my alignment is just so. (In installing the 3rd slide something shifted a tiny bit and the lower 3rd is pretty tight. Also, one of the four tubes is mildly ovalized in the middle somewhere, so it feels like it needs to be lapped. I will just install a new, un-squished tube rather than try to fix that by lapping it to death.
I also need to check all the horns for leaks. So far I have not had issues, but I failed to do my normal leak tests to every tube joint, so I just want to confirm that things are good.
Lots of fun. But so far I am very pleased with these three tubas.
Have fun with the loose ends on your horns.
Do we ever really *finish* our personally owned horns, or do we just putz around with them forever? I forget.
