321-hell

[bloke]

The tuba everyone LOVES to HATE:
the venerable Yamaha YBB-321
I'm just not going to d!ck around with them, anymore.
When they're trashed, I'm just going to break 'em down all the way, and build 'em back as right as can be managed (given $XXX, which defines X hours of my I-don't-deserve-to-be-in-Yama-hell time).

I might (??) even go ahead and anneal those knuckles, and burn the crap out of their nearly 50-year-old lacquer.

[bloke]

so here's 30-minutes of effort on those knuckles...
(...and you KNOW what they're going to all look like by next October.)
I'm moving on. There's plenty of other $h!t this thing needs.

bloke "I remember 'way back when' when I charged what entry-level untrained-to-do-anything people are being paid, today...and there are those who scoff at us when we point out the endless examples of hyperinflation...and Mrs. bloke and I continue to adjust our charges, based on the speed of dollars becoming more-and-more worthless."

I CAN fix these beat-up p.o.s., but I do NOT have to "like" fixing these beat-up p.o.s.
a diesel locomotive engine hostler who I talked to c. 1973 about his work:
"They're big, they're ugly, and they stink."

[York-aholic]

a diesel locomotive engine hostler who I talked to c. 1973 about his work:
"They're big, they're ugly, and they stink."

That is about how I usually describe my 1989 Ford F-350 with a 1990 Cummins 5.9 in it:

“It’s loud, slow, rattles, and smells, just like me.”

The only real difference is that it smokes, I don’t.

[prairieboy1]

Harrumph! I like them. The Yamaha 321 BBb was the very first tuba I started on in 1972. I purchased one from our venerable Bloke and was happy with it for a long time. I purchased the second 321 last spring after watching it languish on Facebook Marketplace for over a year. Once the price dropped to what I thought was reasonable for the condition, I bought it and it had a scrubbing by a local technician and a mouthpiece and bag purchased for it. The tuba resides at our band hall and allows me to not have to transport one to rehearsal. It is called the "Train Yard Tuba" because I could not think of or find the name used to describe the grunt locomotives that never leave the yard and just move other train cars around. It provides a very solid sound with great intonation.
It is not now and never will be a beauty queen, the knuckles on it are worse than those shown above, however it does what I need it to!

[bloke]

They could stand some chopping...
I suspect their #1 slide length - in particular (possibly #1) - is a result of the the old-school mentality whereby those lengths (on the 4-valve version) are the same as on the "make-do-intonation" 3-valve version (same as with most of the old US-made 4-valve tubas).

A complete/precise copy of the long-gone English-made/same-size 3-valve compensating instrument would be superior to BOTH the 201 and the 321.

[bloke]

Mrs. bloke did a whole bunch of bottom bow reflex whams with her 3 lb. sledge, last night.
I should - then - be ironing it out on the Ferree's machine right now, but I'm studying this Hailstork piece part (against youtube) so I won't step on myself at the reading reh. tonight.
I wouldn’t rate the part as “hard“ at all, but that’s all the more reason to not screw up. What’s more stupid than “the guy with the easiest part” (oh yeah: and loud) screwing up ?

[prairieboy1]

After five minutes of exhaustive research I learned that the name for a yard locomotive is a "switcher". My Yamaha 321 deserves a much more regal name, hence. "tugboat". The Wikipedia explanation said that the "switcher" locomotive acts in the same way that a tugboat does, so from now on this tuba is known as the "tugboat tuba" and that is just fine with me.

[bloke]

yeah...
During my active train-watching days (ending c. age 17), most of the yard switch engines were (made by GM/EMD) SW-1500 engines, with some of them being older SW-7/8/9's and 1000's.

...so you have a tuba that works within your "yard" (band/orchestra) to "sort things out", then?

[prairieboy1]

Although, it is probably me that needs to be moved or perhaps have the "switch" used on.

[Finetales]

It is called the "Train Yard Tuba" because I could not think of or find the name used to describe the grunt locomotives that never leave the yard and just move other train cars around.

You got the technical name with "switcher", but the informal term you're looking for (from the steam days) is "yard goat"!

[bloke]

well...
I'm thinking I would be more interested in seeing a 321 set *ON the tracks (in front of an oncoming switch engine) rather than trying to make one literately analogous with a switch engine (as switch engines - generally - really quite nifty and nimble).

bloke "Then again, *that's how MOST of them look, when schools hand them off to me."

[Schlitzz]

AND while all of this is going on, Mrs. Bloke is choking the hell out of the chickens.......Somewhere.....

[prairieboy1]

It is called the "Train Yard Tuba" because I could not think of or find the name used to describe the grunt locomotives that never leave the yard and just move other train cars around.

You got the technical name with "switcher", but the informal term you're looking for (from the steam days) is "yard goat"!

Thank You!

[bloke]

MAN do I hate-Hate-HATE these p's.o.s.

I just found THIS (can you believe it...ie. the lower one in the picture) "mouthpipe" on one of these 321's.

I looked around in the attic, found a garbage 321, and even IT'S mouthpipe wasn't THIS bad...

so I annealed the mouthpipe off my upstairs-trash 321, very hastily/"good-enough" removed it's (fairly large) dents, and tossed it into the brass cleaner, and - while it was soaking - played a few excerpts (I'm NOW including some excerpts along with vocalises) on FatBastard (Wagner/Respighi/Mahler - BOY ! are they DIFFERENT on B-flat !!! - some easier/some a bit more difficult/some only different) , for a few minutes. I also emailed someone - whom we all know - about FaBas, along with other news.

Mrs. bloke took this picture of the sad-sack m'pipe and the salvage/repaired/replacement one, side-by-side:



btw: These old 321's are NOT going to be "pretty"...They're just going to be "fixed".

[bloke]

I don't hate this instrument any less, just because I'm done fixing it.
Obviously it ain't purdy, but it ain't beat-up, everything moves that is supposed to move, and nothing moves that isn't supposed to move.

I had a garbage same-model (actually the 201 3-valve) in the attic, and robbed a WHOLE bunch of parts off of it (parts that broke off in my hands, when taking this POS apart), along with scrounged King braces and other stuff.

There were THREE of these, and I'm about to do the last of the three of these SOB's.
I hope it isn't as $h!tty as #2. (How's that for a bad pun/dad-joke?)

These sort-of sound like Meinl-Weston 25 tubas...I guess the bell is sort-of the same shape.

HATE-HATE-HATE-HATE-HATE !!!!!
(You should hate it too.)

[edfirth]

I had a tuna sandwich for lunch......and......Whatever!

[bloke]

I had a tuna sandwich for lunch......and......Whatever!

At least, you can tune a fish...



...so what are y'all doing on the Firth of July?

[bloke]

UPDATE:

I picked up the third one...
It's not as bad as the other two...
...but still plenty HATE-worthy.

(The interior of the small side of the bottom bow is shaped as if something between "waxing crescent" and "new moon".)

-----------------------------------------------
I'm glad I'm the old man hired to un-destroy it, RATHER THAN a time-traveler (suddenly finding myself back to the 1960's) being an 11-year-old beginner again, and having been the one who destroyed it.

MAN...would I have gotten a whoppin' !!!
...and kicked out of band (both by the director, and by my Dad - who would have had to pay to get if fixed).

[bort2.0]

This thread title sounds like a countdown:

3
2
1
HELL!

[York-aholic]

(The interior of the small side of the bottom bow is shaped as if something between "waxing crescent" and "new moon".)

I thought they came like that from the factory.