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I could just eat chips and drink milk and play this thing for a while, and eventually the problem will seal itself.

I bought the same tuba in the same period and I have no problem with the valves on my tuba. I think you were just unlucky.
but you can also have bad luck with expensive tubas. Example: I couldn't put the mouthpiece into the mouthpipe of a tuba because there was a giant ball of solder inside the mouthpipe. or zinc corrosion on one of my student's tuba, which was six months new.
Unfortunately, mistakes always can happen.

I would be interested in how the seller reacted. can you tell us that?

Waiting for a response, but not expecting much.

It's funny; my serial number is XXXX2, another forum member's is XXXX1... is yours XXXX3?

I'll check the serial number tomorrow. does the other forum member have any problems with the tuba?

Sousaswag wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 9:39 am NOT trying to crap all over your thread! Congrats on finding the problem.

However, this is why I still will not buy a Chinese tuba-shaped object. Regardless of the manufacturer. East-people, Wessex, Jimbo, they've ALL got their problems that we just don't see with more expensive German horns. I'm more willing to pay more for a horn that's built well that causes me no headaches. Regardless of who's endorsing them.

Keeping in mind that this tuba is a for fun, inexpensive instrument, this is fine. I'd certainly be unhappy, but if it plays well, super. I am happy that you seem to like the horn and have found the cause of your buzz.

As far as I’m aware Wessex manufacture nothing, everything that they sell is made for them by one particular manufacturer and Wessex have additional QA in place at the factory for instruments made for them. Jinboa are a manufacturer. Though their reputation is mixed not all Chinese stuff is of poor quality, but when and where I can I choose to buy the products of other countries instead.

First pass on a practice piston. Not terrible. Just wanted to see if I could create a little skim coating. Turns out the stuff I had was rosin core solder, which I don't like, so I'll get something else to avoid all that rosin goop. I'm using "Rubyfluid" flux which is watery.

Ran into a snag wherein my Yamaclone valve stem is screwed in there pretty good and I can't remove it, so I can't remove the nylon valve guide. I'm worried it would melt in the soldering heat. Hmm.

Hold the piston with a pot holder, and unscrew the stem with pliers and a rag.

If it still doesn't budge, heat the stem towards the top with a little torch and try again, the stem may actually have sh!tty loose threads, and I could imagine them gluing the stem into those threads in the top of the piston.

As long as you can get the stem out eventually, you don't need to worry about the guide, it's probably the same as a Yamaha guide and those are even on eBay.

arpthark wrote:Waiting for a response, but not expecting much.

It's funny; my serial number is XXXX2, another forum member's is XXXX1... is yours XXXX3?

My serial number ends with xxxx1


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A friend is visiting this weekend with his double-bell euphonium which needs some work, so we are actually going to head to my repair tech together, and I figure I can get the above job done by a pro instead of me potentially messing this up. I can do it, but if I am already headed there, might as well get it fixed by somebody other than a tuba barn hack.

My local band is doing this upfront Dixieland thing, and I am doing the tuba part for that, so I brought this thing to rehearsal last night since it is so lightweight. I could not detect the "buzz" at all in the larger room. I had to plug one ear and only then could it become somewhat detectable by me. I doubt anyone else can hear it at all, but in a smaller room it becomes much more noticeable if you are right by the bell.

I really enjoyed playing it in the smaller group, and I think it's perfect for that. The resonance of notes at the bottom and below the staff does verge right on "barky" with the Sellmansberger Solo, so next time I am going to try the Imperial to see if that rounds it out a bit.

I did have to pull the main slide quite a bit to play at A=440, but as with lots of community groups, we tend sharp, so it was no problem. However, I'll probably like to get a longer main slide made for it at some point.

Got my tech to solder those pinholes. Now: no buzz!

Tuba plays great.

arpthark wrote: ↑Sat May 20, 2023 12:41 pm Got my tech to solder those pinholes. Now: no buzz!

Tuba plays great.

Congrats! Your persistence has been rewarded.

So, I played this thing for a while and it seemed fine. However, depending on the valve combination, I began to detect a much smaller buzz/vibration in the sound. It's much better than it initially was, but still there. I didn't notice it when I was working with my repair guy to fix it.

I don't get to play this horn much right now, and when I do it's in a bigger hall where the issue is hard to detect. Yesterday I had some time in a smaller practice room, and while inspecting I found the likely culprit in the 3rd valve (the first culprit was in the 1st valve):



This was located on the upper wall of the piston port, hard to see if you're looking at the valves in the normal configuration. Back to the repair guy!

djtubat wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 2:03 pm I bought the same tuba in the same period ... I think you were just unlucky ... you can also have bad luck with expensive tubas ... Unfortunately, mistakes always can happen ... I would be interested in how the seller reacted ...

<never mind>

I can say this tuba was "inspired by old American manufacturing," ref. pic #4:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256136487414?m ... media=COPY

arpthark wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 1:14 pm I can say this tuba was "inspired by old American manufacturing," ref. pic #4:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256136487414?m ... media=COPY

Those can be fixed the "right" way, but - otherwise - lead or no-lead plumbing solder can easily be floated over a place like that.

The "right" way might last a good long while, whereas the floating-solder way might only last a century or two.