TubaForum.net

This tuba has been all over social media:



I remember when this thing was in the T.U.B.A. Journal and was supposedly a playable instrument:

https://inbbflat.blogspot.com/2011/08/w ... a.html?m=1



It would be interesting to know if the new one is indeed playable. If so, a video would be nice for posterity considering the prior version doesn’t have much documentation.

I’d suspect these things are far from viable, but they do pique interest.

DIY wood filler to knicks at home would be a nice problem to have instead of dents in the metal.

lost wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:51 am DIY wood filler to knicks at home would be a nice problem to have instead of dents in the metal.

True! However, you’re trading red rot for cracking and whatever else with wood...

I could be convinced to sell one of my horns and buy one of these (even if for decoration only)...too bad they're not for sale anywhere. Anyone know the name of the woodworker? Amazing skill!

As a hobbyist woodworker (nowhere near that skill level) that enjoys lathe work, I can say:

That thing would be an absolute bugger to make. Amazing skills!!!

ParLawGod wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 6:37 am I could be convinced to sell one of my horns and buy one of these (even if for decoration only)...too bad they're not for sale anywhere. Anyone know the name of the woodworker? Amazing skill!

I found this. I'm going to see if I can tag them on IG

https://www.woodenalchemy.com/museum-pieces

Saw it to C

Lacquer or shellac?

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:14 pm Lacquer or shellac?

Perhaps an oil based finish?

Balsa or ebony?

ParLawGod wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 6:37 am I could be convinced to sell one of my horns and buy one of these (even if for decoration only)...too bad they're not for sale anywhere. Anyone know the name of the woodworker? Amazing skill!

His name is Rob Jones. According to the Wooden Alchemy website, he is the owner.

https://www.woodenalchemy.com/

I saw his name as the artist of the wooden tuba on a Facebook post by someone else, but my screenshot was too large to upload to this website.

“... A playable BBb tuba from genuine mahogany made during the coronavirus shut down. Over 430 hours done at 12-14 hours per day non-stop until finished...” (!!!)

I can't imagine the amount of work and skill went into building that. It's absolutely beautiful!

He’s posted some of the in progress photos:

Most of these photos aren't showing up on Firefox. I keep having to change browsers to see them.

If the wood is preserved by deeply saturating it with, say, epoxy, there's nothing inherently different about this than any other composite material. It would need to be deeply saturated to protect the wood from moisture.

Valve tolerances and dimensional stability will be a challenge. I would soak the wood in a penetrating epoxy and then machine it, depending on the epoxy to control moisture content (which is what causes dimensional instability. But in the end, metal valves might be a better answer.

Acoustically, there is nothing about this, especially if really soaked in penetrating epoxy, such as Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/), that should play similarly to a fiberglass or carbon composite instrument, and those materials have proved successful at least at some level. The material will certainly resonate differently at high frequencies, but we really don't want tubas ringing at those frequencies anyway, in the way that we do want it for some higher brass instruments. Low frequencies, including all the dominant overtones in tuba sound, will resonate in the space of this tuba effectively enough.

I recall one of Brian Kane's plastic tuba getting a review of it from a top performer. The performer's judgment was: There is nothing wrong with this tuba that is caused by it being plastic. The implied statement is the shape has to be correct no matter what the material, or it's not the material's fault if the scale is wonky because of the shape.

I also sat next to Art Hovey at an Army Workshop reading session a couple of years ago, and listened to him play his plastic Tiger Tuba, or whatever it was called. Despite all the constructions he'd added to manage the inherent unreliability of plastic valves, the instrument sounded like a tuba. Art did not claim to be working any magic as a performer to make it so. I wish I had sounded remotely as good on my Hirsbrunner.

So, if the shape of this wooden tuba is appropriate, I would expect it to sound like a tuba. It would take a lot to make it reliable for daily use, but I think it could be more than a beautiful tuba sculpture.

Rick "York's Magic Brass (tm) notwithstanding" Denney