Posted by Joe Sellmansberger on April 15, 1999 at 11:54:14:
In Reply to: Re: Re: No decent New F tubas on the market (me out-of-step? too picky?) posted by Jay Bertolet on April 15, 1999 at 09:32:57:
As you might have noticed below, I have also enhanced old tubas (some people [perhaps] egotistically [?] call this "built" - I call it "enhanced") in order to try to find things that would play better than what I could buy. Yes, I am truly blessed with the '82 B & S F: No slide pulling, no pitch stretching (Others who have blown this old thing will back me up here). Maybe I am stupid for having just gotten rid of the old Holton York CC that I enhanced-created, but that thing was a lot of work to pull together, pitchwise, and I am spoiled, spoiled, spoiled by my F. I DO wish that the Hirbrunners had decided to go with that '92 F prototype, as Sean reflected on, above. I would have one, today. (I don't think that the pitch on my Holton CC was any worse than some of these $10000 + CC's and I'll probably eventually be sorry that I sold it.) I also "enhanced" a front-action Eb York to 4 pistons + 5th rotor, making it look like a "factory" Eb version of Jake's CC, except in Eb. I stupidly sold it a few years ago to a guy in Columbus, OH. $$$$$ got ahead of my sense. That tuba was great fun. I think that my (possibly amazing) B. & S. F keeps making me dissatisfied with some really dynamite instruments that I probably should still own.
Currently, I am converting a student York ("Pioneer" - this was their "student" line, like "Pan American" was Conn's) Eb sousa into an Eb helicon. I have no "jazz" tuba anymore since I sold the York Eb and I need one. The Pioneer helicon actually plays a little better than the really fine York Eb that I fixed up and then sold. The helicon has a little larger (unusual for York) bore: .675" rather than their standard .655" and the helicon behaves better, pitch-wise, than the York Eb tuba did: no "saggy" Eb just below the staff, and no "saggy" High Eb, either. Very fat-funky great jazz sound. I am keeping it three valve, with a top pull slide added to #3. I can play jazz "licks" (see discussion below re: Carl) better with just the standard set of 3 buttons below my fingers. I think that maybe I should wise up and not sell this one....
My next CC will be a Frankenstein: I have an old Cleveland (H.N. White) Eb (big 20") bell fitting into a Reynolds cut-down and bore stretch-matched 4/4 BBb body. The valve section is .734" Conn sousa with a #2 piston/casing added on at a curve past #3, making it 4 piston. I will NOT have a main tuning slide below, but will steal Hirbrunner's old idea of having the main tuning slide in the mouthpipe, except I will put it just PAST the mouthpipe and BEFORE the #1 piston and make it go UP to where my left hand can grab it (the main slide) to be able to tune ANY note. So far, I have duct taped it up for a trial and it has the neatest fat 4/4 sound that I have ever experienced, plus a "livable" scale (the G in the staff is about 10 cents sharp, similar to the better Rudy Meinl's ... no other real problems). Down below where the tuning slide would normally be -- a "fixed" crook on this horn -- I will mount a .770" bore fifth rotor. I will probably be wise enough not to sell it, either, when it is done.
More important than all of this: DOES ANYONE KNOW A SCHOOL THAT WANTS TO BUY SOME RESTORED SILVER OR FIBERGLASS SOUSAS FOR LESS THAT TAYLOR MUSIC SELLS THEIRS FOR, AND RESTORED BETTER? I have a daughter playing oboe at Eastman, and I am currently driving an '89 Celebrity (main vehicle) and a '78 Ford Pick-up (for Sunday School only). NEED TUITION AND RENT MONEY! heeeeeeeeeeeeelp.