piano hinge experiences - cases

[bloke]

Discuss your personal experiences after replacing sh!tty individual sheet metal hinges (on an otherwise darn good molded case) with a continuous "piano" hinge, and whether the results - based on your experiences - were better or worse.

(MTS cases feature "piano" hinges, I believe.)

Jakob Winter cases feature crappy hinges, probably no better than typical Yamaha case hinges.

NONE of the various makers of molded cases seem to feature the best "everythings".

I'm browsing what's available.

So far, this seems reasonable: (and - rather than wrecking the case to install it with little nuts and bolts - probably peel rivets)

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They have the same thing in 1mm thickness, but (considering that this a PARTICULARLY LARGE tuba case) I'm attracted to the (shown above) 1.5+mm (aka 1/16") thickness.

In the past, I considered pulling these piano hinges off of young-scholar-ruined MTS sousaphone cases, but they're cheap enough to buy (new) that - after doing one - it just didn't seem to be worth the time (vs. the savings of salvaging).

EDIT:
I looked out in the barn, FOUND one that I HAD salvaged from an MTS sousaphone case, it's EXACTLY 34 inches long (as 3-feet is two inches TOO long for this tuba case), so I guess I'm going with it, EVEN THOUGH it's the 1mm thick stainless steel...

...I'm STILL interested in anyone's else experiences.

[bloke]

What I'm getting with the separate sheet metal hinges - even though I've tried to be careful with the really big molded case - is wibble-wobble when I close the case, and I have to schmooze the halves back together properly so that the metal tracks line up along the hinge side - in order for the latches to line up properly on the opposite side. I'm hoping that this piano hinge solves the problem once I tear off the hinges and replace them with the piano hinge.

[arpthark]

Have you considered just getting a gig bag instead?

[bloke]

Have you considered just getting a gig bag instead?

Yeah, those cellophane ones that come with brand new tubas inside the cases are pretty cool. They are lightweight.

[C J]

What I'm getting with the separate sheet metal hinges - even though I've tried to be careful with the really big molded case - is wibble-wobble when I close the case, and I have to schmooze the halves back together properly so that the metal tracks line up along the hinge side - in order for the latches to line up properly on the opposite side. I'm hoping that this piano hinge solves the problem once I tear off the hinges and replace them with the piano hinge.

I experienced this with my Winter case, but only for the first weeks, after that it is all smooth sailing.
I have to say that when I take the tuba out of the case I will close the case immediatly.

[bloke]

Thanks for the feedback. I think it's a different type of plastic. It seems more flexible than the two other common makes which are MTS and SKB. I suspect the plastic that Winter uses is more flexible and possibly not quite as prone to cracking, but - being more flexible - it becomes a bit problematic when the case has become really large, and mine is the largest of the large.

Were it that this tuba was smaller and lighter weight, maybe I could do as you did and pull out the tuba and just let the lid close immediately, but it's a two-handed sized instrument.