TubaForum.net

Well, this one is in my house now... something to use for a few weeks while the Rudy gets finished up. Not sure how long I'll keep it or how it will actually play (I'm out of shape and haven't played but a few notes on it today, outside...). No expectations for this whatsoever, but also extremely low-risk and cool.

The seller was a local TF member that I've met once or twice before, and he can speak up if he wants to be known. Otherwise, I'll just say it was nice to see him, and good to chat, outdoor, in 3 degree weather, for a couple of minutes.

It's going to shine up pretty nicely, but I ran out of silver polish. Not easy to take super bright pictures, but the inside of the bell is glaring (hurts my eyes in direct sunlight) and shiny AF. No major damage that I've seen so far. A few very minor pings on the bell but the bell is really clean otherwise. All the solder joints are good, a few little dents here and there. All slides move, and the valves move well... but I can't get the top valve caps open just yet. They might need some encouragement. Valves are a little "clicky" but they're old so that's expected.

I was told that it had previously been owned by a middle school band director, who owned it for 50 years, and didn't use it very much. Built in 1929. I hope I look this good when I'm 93 years old.

Don't mind the dried PlayDoh on the carpet. I did my best to keep my feet out of the pictures so isn't that good enough?!

Play-doh, crayons, doggy doo, anything but feet.

Forgot to say, it's 32" tall and a 17" bell... so a little bigger than I had originally thought.

Anyone know what model this is or have an old catalog to reference? I haven't checked Klaus' archive yet, but that's my first stop.

That's a great looking little horn! It should tide you over until the big horn arrives. Don't worry about the play-do, it means your kid(s?) are playing and being creative!

It was nice to see you again too, Brett. I couldn’t believe how shiny the bell was/is, and I’m glad to hear all the slides move.

handsome!

1923 catalog page from saxophone.org:

The fancy silver E-flat – adjusted for inflation – would be about 3000 bucks.

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:59 pm Forgot to say, it's 32" tall and a 17" bell... so a little bigger than I had originally thought.

Anyone know what model this is or have an old catalog to reference? I haven't checked Klaus' archive yet, but that's my first stop.

Older catalog, but the dimensions fit:

Just got a chance to play for a few minutes:

First impression... I have GOT to trim my beard. It's the longest it's ever been and makes it really tough to play at all. Getting over that, as usual with most tubas (especially when I'm out of shape), my first couple of notes were lousy.

After about 30 seconds, I start to realize what I need to do in the mouthpiece to make the sounds I want... the whole "do this to sound like that" idea. Then I get past that and play a few minutes of stuff I know by ear, or things committed to memory using the usual fingering pattern/partial combinations, but this time on an Eb tuba.

Bad stuff
I feel very limited with only 3 valves. And I still don't know Eb fingerings. I can't get the top valve caps unstuck, and the valves do drag a little bit. Open to suggestions for unsticking them, but I want to be careful to not mess up the caps.

Good stuff
I really like it! Great build quality, it's SOLID and feels really good to hold. No bad joints, no messy old repairs that I can see... it's not perfect, and it's had a life and a little work done (lowered leadpipe by a bit), but it's had a lot of downtime, too. It's just pleasant to look at, too.

Sounds great! Low range is surprisingly easy and strong, all the way down to whatever notes are 1-3 and 1-2-3. The 17" bell makes a bigger and fuller sound than I had expected. False tones work well enough to get me by, but I miss the 4th valve. Obviously though, not a tuba designed to be taken into "big stuff" and for laying down super-low parts. I get that, not the horn's fault.

Perhaps the best unintended consequence was that Bort Jr. (who is generally interested in my instruments anyway) was super interested to play it. Sat on the floor, got out his mouthpiece and belted out some VERY solid low Eb's. And he can reach the valves. So... there's that, too.

Is any Eb really any good at playing like a BBb with the “extra register” valve depressed??

Three Valves wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:48 pm Is any Eb really any good at playing like a BBb with the “extra register” valve depressed??

Besson 983 was quite good down there.

Appreciating the irony of that, but really, not trying to be an Eb player

Got the valve caps open pretty easily. Valves look just fine.

Rehearsal tomorrow night, that'll be the big test. I figure if it looks shiny, it'll excuse more wrong notes

Three Valves wrote: ↑Wed Feb 23, 2022 6:48 pm Is any Eb really any good at playing like a BBb with the “extra register” valve depressed??

I've been messing around with a Holton Monster 3+1 EEb tuba the past couple of weeks. I actually used it in a community orchestra and band rehearsal. It seemed to work fairly well. Maybe not as much girth as my Wessex XL, but the Monster EEb surprisingly puts out a lot of sound

I love the box branches.

All valve have top-pull slides, which can help you to tune on the fly.

There's so much small junk on that tuba - past the valveset - that it looks like an F tuba body.

This is about as much silver polishing as I care to do for now. Lots of smaller spots to clean up, but maybe I'll do some of that another time.

Before (image from CL ad)


After (or, "during"?)

Just consider the rest like that play-doh in the carpet.

It's clean enough and the rest just ain't coming out!!

We can kennel dogs, so why not minor children... or adult ones, who've committed felonies, have been released, and were sent home...??