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I plan on re-making some tuning slide crooks on a martin mammoth sousaphone. Some backstory: The previous, previous owner was a member of a banda, he/she also did not take care of the instrument(shipped the horn, no case, in a box with packing peanuts). So here I am trying to fix issues that could have been avoided. After having already dealt with epoxy joints, stuck slides, and mounds of duct tape, the sousaphone actually looks really good. However the second and third(bottom) slide crooks are shot. And i don't just mean dented to hell...unfortunately. I've never made slide crooks personally before(I usually just stick to solder and dent work because I do this for fun) but i guess its worth a shot before spending $$$ for a repair shop to make it. Anything helps.

Those really need to be made by machinery and need to be balled out through molds.

EmptyCase wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:41 pm I plan on re-making some tuning slide crooks on a martin mammoth sousaphone. Some backstory: The previous, previous owner was a member of a banda, he/she also did not take care of the instrument(shipped the horn, no case, in a box with packing peanuts). So here I am trying to fix issues that could have been avoided. After having already dealt with epoxy joints, stuck slides, and mounds of duct tape, the sousaphone actually looks really good. However the second and third(bottom) slide crooks are shot. And i don't just mean dented to hell...unfortunately. I've never made slide crooks personally before(I usually just stick to solder and dent work because I do this for fun) but i guess its worth a shot before spending $$$ for a repair shop to make it. Anything helps.

I don’t doubt that it’s possible for someone to make something new that will ‘work’, but suggest that you ask about for new and second hand parts first - anything that can be made to fit, etc. Photo’s and dimensions would likely help.

I'm thinking that dynasty/weril sousaphone valve sets bore sizes are about 100th of an inch larger than Martin - which is not much. Those things tear up (crappy braces) so there may be some of those valve sections in shop junk piles, and - if any of the measurements across the slide bows come close to matching, something like that might help you.

Otherwise, if someone has an old Martin valve section way deep in their junk pile that's missing all the pistons, that would be an ideal place to look. You just need to get the word out and do what Mr YorkNumber3.0 suggested (publish a diagram here, on Facebook on the frankentuba page, and wherever else you think might be a good place).

I could be mistaken, but I'm thinking that Yamaha sousaphones might be the same bore size as those Brazilian made ones that are referred to above, and you can actually buy new parts from Yamaha - if you find that there's something that would line up with Martin fairly close.