The "Frankentuba Builder" Theme Song
Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2023 7:36 am
I have loved this song since it dropped in 1976. I remember my band director singing it (and rather well, I might add) while he built a trumpet from parts in the "Junk Room". He built a LOT of very decent instruments by cannibalizing broken horns that had been removed from inventory. He would be at work every day during his two-hour conference period, soldering together an Olds Ambassador trumpet with a Bach leadpipe and the 3rd slide from a Getzen cornet. He would glue and clamp old, broken hardwood cases and make new interiors with cardboard strips, foam rubber, and a bolt of low-nap, purple fake fur. He would sell these to kids' parents for dirt cheap with the promise that mom would return it for the same amount once she could afford to get Junior a new instrument in 7th or 8th grade. I think about 50% of our very poor beginners (about 150 every year in two 75-person 6th-grade bands) used these old beaters, and they usually returned them in perfect condition, too. We knew how fortunate we were to get a decent trumpet for $75 and we took care of it.)
I have had a love for rescuing broken horns and cobbling together working instruments from piles of scrap since I was eleven years old because of this man's work to put horns in our hands. I have made Frankeninstruments since about 1995, and have been aggressively working on tubas like this since about 2013. I love it. I hope to one day be able to provide some cheap horns to local kids who live in Section 8 housing and badly wish to play in the local school band. Of course, they won't be as thankful or as careful, because neither is a "thing" these days for most kids. Times change. People change. I do this out of hope, not to make money. If I tried to make money doing this I would probably lose everything in the process.
I have had a love for rescuing broken horns and cobbling together working instruments from piles of scrap since I was eleven years old because of this man's work to put horns in our hands. I have made Frankeninstruments since about 1995, and have been aggressively working on tubas like this since about 2013. I love it. I hope to one day be able to provide some cheap horns to local kids who live in Section 8 housing and badly wish to play in the local school band. Of course, they won't be as thankful or as careful, because neither is a "thing" these days for most kids. Times change. People change. I do this out of hope, not to make money. If I tried to make money doing this I would probably lose everything in the process.
