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I wound up with a YBB-104 when the middle school gave my daughter a school-owned tuba for home practice this summer. I ended up switching from trumpet to tuba as a result. The valves are like new, and the only problem was dents, or so I though. I have been practicing a lot each day, and decided to reposition the mouthpipe to let me sit more comfortably. I filled it with some gallium for bending, and that found a leak. Further cleaning shows the mouthpipe is full of red rot. One area was so big I had to make a patch. For a quick fix for other holes, I globbed on solder. Dozens more spots look ready to leak. How could I fix this more properly?

Replacement. Good news is that it should be easy to source that leadpipe.

Replace it. Once the dezincification starts it will only continue to rot out.

These are not so easy to locate today. Try a shop that is an authorized Yamaha dealer. They can probably get you the leadpipe without a lot of fuss. It is hard for individuals to buy from Yamaha directly, and eBay is dried up at the moment. Some of the techs on this site might have one in stock, too, so post an ad in the WTB forum as well as in this forum. You could just retitle this one as a part of the Edit function…

Good luck.

They are quite easy to bend from that long-skinny Allied generic, if the price of a new one turns you off.

If you can get one of those ready-to-bend ones - and can put it in a 70-degrees room with the tuba - that would be a really easy one to see if "beginner's luck" is actually a thing.

Just use the tuba bell itself as the "form" and bend it around the tuba...
Those small ones bend easy, and the tuba bell is strong enough to push those (in particular) against it.

Chinese tool store calipers would prove handy.

Something clicked in my head - after I posted...
I looked on the shelf and this was sitting there...

I do NOT like selling "parts"... >> That's not my "bidnuss"...
(The REASON that I have "parts" is so that we can have them.)

...but (and yes, this is more than my cost), I'll sell this one for $150, include postage in that price, and supply a tracking number.
That having been said, if you buy it - and the post office loses it, it's YOURS (please) once I hand it over the counter to the clerk.

If you also need the little set of detachable brace parts (one of which solders to the receiver), I can do $30 on that little package of parts.
Otherwise (if in good shape), just re-use the brace parts that you already have.

Other than that brace, this mouthpipe should be "plug-and-play" - but it is NOT lacquered.

no need to respond UNLESS you're interested...I'm just "throwing this out there".
Ignoring this offer will NOT be deemed as "rude, so just chill.

Amazing you have it. I'll take it!

Here it is...


I annealed it first because I don't think I could bend it otherwise. Then I filled it with gallium and froze it. It made some awful creaks and pops while bending, but that was just the gallium inside. I fixed a dent at the original brace location. Apparently it had been dropped and landed there. Zooming it shows the soldering isn't great, but it's good enough for me. I actually messed it up slightly while installing it. Some flat/bulging is visible near the third valve cap.

Good job, sir!

Am I seeing that the attaching point - on the bell - was moved down several inches?

Any creases and flat spots - due to re-bending - can be remedied by pulling .6XX" - .5XX" balls (of the within-.005" size - borrowing someone's 100-pc. drilled dent ball set) past the damaged areas with a bicycle brake cable...fished through from the tuning slide tube WITH THE MOUTHPIPE ATTACHED TO THE TUBA.

I moved the mouthpipe down a couple of inches, and also bent it to slope downward instead of level. Then I put the brace back where it would fit, which is now on the pipe itself instead of the receiver. I was developing a pain in my back after playing too much. This position helps, and I am also trying to remember to not tense up my shoulders when practicing high notes.

Dent balls is something I don't have. I have been cycling through hobby ideas now that I am retired. I planned to replace a lathe I sold during a past move. But I need a house with a Garage Mahal for space. I actually fixed up my current house to make it ready for selling. But by the time that was done, housing prices spiked and selection plummeted. So for now, the new house idea is on hold. I have done a lot of dent removal on trumpet/cornet. It's so easy compared to tuba, at least for the accessible type of dents I can do with various mandrels and rods.

I have done only partial dent removal on the YBB-104 I have. That's one reason I joined this forum, to learn more about the tuba aspect. On the other hand, my next tuba might be a new one. But actually I'm pretty happy with the tuba I have. It's small and relatively light. No water keys on the slides though. The partial dent removal I did was on a couple of bigger ones, using a large steel ball and big magnet. I had to anneal to make any progress. I need to unsolder some parts to do a better fix. But without a backup horn, I don't want to do anything too involved.