TubaForum.net

In keeping with @bloke 's mention of starting a thread in order to help speed progress, I thought I should follow suit and get a thread going for my next project: a 5/4ish CC tuba. It will be made from mostly leftover and as-cheaply-as-possible obtainted parts. My goal is to have a large-ish tuba without breaking the bank.

For those that don't know me, I'm not a professional repair person in any way, shape, or form. I am a band teacher for a living, and do this as a hobby. I've learned a lot from folks on here and elsewhere online over the years and enjoy trying these projects on my own as much as possible. I've ended up with what I think is a really nice five-valved Eb tuba from trying this Frankentuba stuff for myself (I call it my King-Conn). It's been a lot of fun. I think I'll call this one a Conn-King.

This project started when I looked around my basement and saw that I had a valveset from a donated 14K sousaphone, and a useable bell and bottom bow from a Conn Giant Eb. I have some inner bows from a 12J, but thought those would be too "skinny" (and the dogleg is way smaller than the large side of the MTS of the sousaphone valveset). I was able to get some King 12/2340/41 bows to use as the body. I was hoping to have all Conn parts, but oh well.

Here is the Conn Giant Eb:


Here is a rough mock up with the King bows and a spare valveset laying on top:


I love the internet! I was able to find someone with a spare valveset. I'll use this to build the 4th valve circuit:


I've started disassembling the valveset:


Here are how the crooks started:


Here's where I was able to get them after some annealing and dent work:


I had someone expand the top bow of the King to fit the ferrule of the bottom bow from the Conn Eb. I bought one of the prefilled leadpipes from Allied. I'll eventually need to procure a 5th valve. Other than that, I think I've got just about everything I need to build this. I might need to beg for some braces along the way, but we'll see!

@Tubajug, google isn’t playing nice with your image markup. For image to work, the link usually needs to be a file name with something like .jpg, .png, .gif, etc.

Hmm...I'm not sure why it's not working. I used a google "direct link" in the "insert image" [img] tags. It's always worked for me in the past. The google images are set to share with the public. If anyone has any ideas on what else to try, I'm open to suggestions.

Tubajug wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:23 pm Hmm...I'm not sure why it's not working. I used a google "direct link" in the "insert image" [img] tags. It's always worked for me in the past. The google images are set to share with the public. If anyone has any ideas on what else to try, I'm open to suggestions.

Looks like some files elsewhere in the forum aren’t displaying correctly also… @ParLawGod, any insight to a recent update to the phpBB?

I can see the photos with no trouble.

matt g wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:33 pm

Tubajug wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:23 pm Hmm...I'm not sure why it's not working. I used a google "direct link" in the "insert image" [img] tags. It's always worked for me in the past. The google images are set to share with the public. If anyone has any ideas on what else to try, I'm open to suggestions.

Looks like some files elsewhere in the forum aren’t displaying correctly also… @ParLawGod, any insight to a recent update to the phpBB?

No recent updates to anything on my end. The pictures also show up correctly on both my laptop and phone.

No pics here, either. All I see is the word “Image” where the pics ought to be.

How can I hypnotize you into buying my rebuilt-valves and satin-silver refinished Conn 40K four-valve .734” bore valveset?

the elephant wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:36 pm No pics here, either. All I see is the word “Image” where the pics ought to be.

That's what I saw yesterday.

Today I see the pics.

Images and videos just do what they wanna around here!!

Three Valves wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:01 am

the elephant wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:36 pm No pics here, either. All I see is the word “Image” where the pics ought to be.

That's what I saw yesterday.

Today I see the pics.

Images and videos just do what they wanna around here!!

That was on my phone. Today, on my laptop…

I'm excited to see your progress! I have the exact same parts, so I'm following very close.

Also, I see the pictures fine. I am on Chrome.

the elephant wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:27 am

Three Valves wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:01 am

the elephant wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 9:36 pm No pics here, either. All I see is the word “Image” where the pics ought to be.

That's what I saw yesterday.

Today I see the pics.

Images and videos just do what they wanna around here!!

That was on my phone. Today, on my laptop…

Screen Shot 2022-03-23 at 10.26.38 AM.png

… aaaaand *POOF* my attachment disappeared…

bloke wrote: ↑Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:30 pm How can I hypnotize you into buying my rebuilt-valves and satin-silver refinished Conn 40K four-valve .734” bore valveset?

That would be amazing, but would be against my "frugalhorn" policy for this build...

And yes, pictures seem to be doing something funny around here. I can't see some of the pictures @Doc posted in his Meinl Weston thread either. Weird...

Since I shifted to using the bell to build a helicon (and then botching it...) this build is no longer in the works.

I still have the parts to make the four-valve cluster though, so I'll probably get that put together at some point to use on something. I also have the King body from the dogleg all the way through a detachable bell stack.

Tonight I realized I can still build a horn out of the parts I've got. I have the valve clusters, an entire King body from the detachable bell stack through the dogleg, and my botched bell. All I need is a male tenon for a detachable King bell to fit on my botched bell and I'm in business!

I could slap together a BBb, or still go for the CC idea. I would, in all likelihood, sell the horn I create, unless it's better than my modified King... then we'll have to see which one goes...

Anyone have a King detachable bell male tenon laying around?

This thing is back in the works, since I found a 56J bell for my helicon, I'm back to having the Monster Eb bell and bottom bow, King body, and 14K valves. This will probably be next on the hit list once I complete my helicon.

Stay tuned!