What is required for a frankentuba?

[Name_Plate]

I am a college engineering student and I want to use what I have learned on creating either a CC tuba or a F tuba. I have time to work with but would like to know:

Where to find miscellaneous parts?
What tools are needed?
What financial commitment would I be looking at?

I have a bell section identified for a CC or an F depending on what I choose. I am still scouting a 4 piston valve block, as well as a 5th rotor valve (possibly a 6th for an F). I know this would be a large commitment but would like to know if I am well above my head in creating something like this.

Best,
Connor

[windshieldbug]

Is this as a hobby, or something you intend to perform with?
(in other words: is there a time frame that you need a workable solution, or is this just something you want to apply money and skills to as you acquire them?)

[Name_Plate]

I would like to preform with it at some point but for the foreseeable future this would a hobby. Ideally I would like to have it done by mid next year but I am completely flexible on that.

[LargeTuba]

+1

I am in a similar situation looking for similar advice.

[bloke]

What is required for a frankentuba?

...bell screws...??

[Name_Plate]

Lol, I was expecting something like this.

[bloke]

Lol, I was expecting something like this.

...and there you go, then.

[jtm]

I'm selling one with bell screws (and a franken-yamaha bell), but it's working perfectly well, so probably not what you're after.

[matt g]

A serious attempt...

Where to find miscellaneous parts?

Craigslist, eBay, Facebook marketplace, antique stores, etc.

What tools are needed?

For basic stuff, a lot of the work is effectively the same as plumbing with copper pipes. But for the “real” work, you’ll need draw rings, tools for burnishing, mandrels of some sort, etc. Effectively you’ll need almost everything one would need for a brass repair shop.

What financial commitment would I be looking at?

Depends on how far down the rabbit hole you’re going.

As is the usual advice here, it’s really hard to cut a bad tuba into a good one. Lots of decent tubas have been cut into bad ones. There are lots of ins and outs that have to be learned, many from practice.

I think if you ask most people here who have built good horns from various parts, it’s probably cheaper to buy a used or even new horn. The reason for most frankentubas is because what the builder has in mind doesn’t exist on the market.

[iiipopes]

What is required for an instrument to be considered a frankentuba? I would say structural parts (not just small braces, bell screws, ball linkage conversions, etc., but something more substantial like bows, tubing, valve blocks and bells) from one brand/make/model of tuba used on another. For example, Sam Gnagy creations from York/King/others parts; TubaTinker using Yammy or Chinese bells (which are great sounding bells) on Mirafones; M-W valve sets on old Martins, etc. I would like to think my Bessophone, a Miraphone 186 body with a Besson New Standard BBb bell just barely qualifies to be considered a frankentuba.

BessophoneFront.JPG (26.16 KiB) Viewed 811 times

[LeMark]

I got very lucky when I built my frankentuba. I had all the right parts fall into my lap from Alex, tabor and others, and it was very easy process. I don't think I'll every do it again for two reasons

1. It's much harder to find someone that will rebuild a valve section these days
2. I doubt I'll ever be lucky enough to find the exact parts I need without over paying for them.

[jtm]

iiipopes is right: the Yamaha bell sounds good, and it barely counts as a frankentuba.

[KingTuba1241X]

iiipopes is right: the Yamaha bell sounds good, and it barely counts as a frankentuba.

Why do you guys say "barely" just curious? If the horn has hard parts from a different manufacturer or custom made parts (even just a bell which is a large part of the horn) it's pretty much "Franken". How many different parts was the actual Monster of Dr. Frankenstein made of?

[jtm]

Why do you guys say "barely" just curious? If the horn has hard parts from a different manufacturer or custom made parts (even just a bell which is a large part of the horn) it's pretty much "Franken". How many different parts was the actual Monster of Dr. Frankenstein made of?

Maybe it's the degree of risk/uncertainty. When Dan Schultz sent me a Yamaha bell that fit right into the existing mount on my Mirafone, it didn't seem too crazy compared to attaching a new valve set to a bugle.

[Rick Denney]

iiipopes is right: the Yamaha bell sounds good, and it barely counts as a frankentuba.

Why do you guys say "barely" just curious? If the horn has hard parts from a different manufacturer or custom made parts (even just a bell which is a large part of the horn) it's pretty much "Franken". How many different parts was the actual Monster of Dr. Frankenstein made of?

The idea is that parts are mixed and matched, rather than from an original product. If I take a York Eb bell and bottom bow, add a York CC set of outer branches, make a dogleg and leadpipe, and then use valves from a York sousaphone, then it's a Franken. If I put a Yamaha bell on a Miraphone, then it's a modified Miraphone. If I put a Yamaha valve section on a Miraphone, then it's a ruined Miraphone. If I put a home-made leadpipe on a Miraphone, it's a modified Miraphone. To be a Franken, it needs more than one of its critical components to be changed. Maybe more than two.

And a true Franken has parts that are not close emulations of what was removed, but that actually change the instrument to something different. So, a Miraphone with the bell replaced with one from a Chinese Miraphone copy would not be a Franken, or even modified. It would just be cheaply repaired. If I replaced the generic Yorkish .750 valve set with another Yorkish .750 valve set and all I had to change were a few braces, then I'm thinking not a Franken.

Each case has to be judged on its merits.

Rick "preferring the necessity for trained, expert judges, of which he would be on " Denney

[KingTuba1241X]

If I replaced the generic Yorkish .750 valve set with another Yorkish .750 valve set and all I had to change were a few braces, then I'm thinking not a Franken.

That's probably the only example that wouldn't be "Franken" IMO.

[bloke]

Just fwiw...

I've seen some representatives - in the past - built by some who probably should not have franken privileges.

[bort2.0]

Remember... Frankenstein was the doctor. The monster was unnamed.

[bloke]

Remember... Frankenstein was the doctor. The monster was unnamed.

...and don't forget to pronounce it as in the Mel Brooks movie...

[iiipopes]

iiipopes is right: the Yamaha bell sounds good, and it barely counts as a frankentuba.

Why do you guys say "barely" just curious? If the horn has hard parts from a different manufacturer or custom made parts (even just a bell which is a large part of the horn) it's pretty much "Franken". How many different parts was the actual Monster of Dr. Frankenstein made of?

Part of the frankentuba kitch is that the parts are disparate, hence my examples. For instance, on mine, it is a German body and an English bell, not parts from, say, a Reynolds and an Olds, or a Bundy and a Selmer, which are essentially the same instrument, just like GM A-body cars are.