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What should I do with this?

It's a Bohland & Fuchs BBb 6/4 tuba -- not really tall enough to be a proper Kaiser, but with a huge bore (.830"), very wide bottom bow and about a 21" bell. Marked "Imported for the Vega Company, made in Bohemia." Reminds me of a Cerveny 693 but with a horizontal tuning slide.

It is remarkably intact in all the valve tubing, BUT it is missing three rotors, all of the back plates and some of the stop arm mechanisms. Paddles and S links are all there, although one clockspring seems to have busted.

I do have one rotor and most of the parts needed for someone to machine up copies of the missing parts, except for the rotor backing plates.

Is the bell pretty solid, or is it brittle?

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 11:53 am Is the bell pretty solid, or is it brittle?

It is thin and probably brittle, but no cracks (anywhere) aside from what looks like two nail holes in the bell.

edit: looking more closely, there MAY be the beginning of a crack from one of those bell creases. I honestly haven't had too much time to look over it yet between being sick and other duties.

Thanks... I think I'd start there. Be sure the bell and bows are solid and have more life in them. Otherwise, no sense in doing more. And possibly why those rotors are missing in the first place.

Cut it to CC and put a 4+1 piston valveset on it!

Tubajug wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:17 pm Cut it to CC and put a 4+1 piston valveset on it!

Was considering adding a couple extra feet of tubing to put it in GG, and since it already has 1 valve it would be a good candidate for drum corps, right??

arpthark wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:39 pm

Tubajug wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:17 pm Cut it to CC and put a 4+1 piston valveset on it!

Was considering adding a couple extra feet of tubing to put it in GG, and since it already has 1 valve it would be a good candidate for drum corps, right??

Perfect!

The reason it's not as tall as you would think it should be is because of the horizontal slide. Those take up a lot of linear real estate.

Considering the rotor and the linkage issues, I would probably see about selling it as is. Otherwise, I might (??) see if the bell smooths out without cracking, and part it out.

If the bell barely starts spider cracking on you, I would recommend immediately stopping. Also, I wouldn't take the bell off the instrument simply to smooth it out.

Cut it to BB and make it 6 valves.