Who rebuilds rotary valves?

[Diego A. Stine]

Hi all,

Last month I came into possession of a B&S/Weltklang 104 Bb that sounds great, but the valves are in need of a rebuild. Ordering a new block from Meinlschmidt seems expensive and cumbersome, does anyone in the US rebuild tuba rotary valves?

[arpthark]

Jim Engele at New England Brassworks (Nashua, NH) rebuilds tuba rotary valves.

[dp]

Hi all,

Last month I came into possession of a B&S/Weltklang 104 Bb that sounds great, but the valves are in need of a rebuild. Ordering a new block from Meinlschmidt seems expensive and cumbersome, does anyone in the US rebuild tuba rotary valves?

Hi Diego, call Doug Tornquist at USC and see if he knows a good local

[daktx2]

I think I might have bid against you for that Weltklang 104! I remember hearing that Dan Oberloh is set up to do this as well, but a rebuild is unlikely to save you much money.

I had 2 leaky valves on my Symphonie, and after conversations with multiple instrument repair folks, went with replacement instead. Rebuilding rotors was described to me as so labor intensive as to make there not be much of a price difference when compared to a replacement, and rebuilding doesn't always give great results. Price for the new valves were under 300 euros each, installation/repair work was slightly more.

Some details of the project are here https://tubaforum.net/viewtopic.php?t=12556, and I've been very happy with the results! Good luck with the project.

[bloke]

There are people who do this, but it's better to hook up with one of the people (Atkinson et al) who manufactures slightly oversized new rotors from scratch and laps them into slightly worn casings. The copper and nickel plating jobs that I've seen - even from those who are or were the best at doing them - I would sort of have to rate between B+ and B minus, compared to new valves... depending on how skilled they are/were and how worn the valves were to begin with. The more worn, the more challenging, and French horn and trombone rotors are far easier to do a pretty nice job with the copper and nickel plating than big ol' tuba rotors.

Even better than fitting new rotor bodies into worn casings is ordering a set of four nice new rotors and casings from Meinlschmidt. (They can even supply a nice new set of linkage, if needed.) If you can find a qualified domestic shop to pull your string of rotor casings and replace them with new ones, it would be the domestic technician who would deal with MS and presenting them with the geometry requirements, so that you didn't also have to purchase all the cylindrical tubing and slides from scratch.
If your rotor set is like many, it might just be that valves numbers 1 and 2 are worn and numbers 3 and 4 aren't particularly worn... but there's no way for anyone to know this other than yourself.

Finally, the cost of all of this or any of this needs to be weighed against the monetary value of the instrument once mechanically remanufactured. None of these - including the copper nickel plating method - are inexpensive.

myself?
I've always felt relieved that I've managed to lap new slightly oversized rotors into worn casings and do a good job, and not ruin them, but it's not something I do every day, and since someone else would have to manufacture the new rotors anyway, it's best for them to fit them into your old casings.
(I'm the same with bending new mouthpipes... I'm always nervous, but tend to always luck out... It's something I don't do every day.)

Shipping a tuba - and certainly a big tuba - is pricey in America. Based on where your family is located, I might look towards Atkinson. He's even capable of building new hollow rotor valve bodies and fitting them into existing casings. As you might guess, this allows for lighter spring tension with the same speed as stronger spring tension with solid rotor bodies.

[Sousaswag]

I would recommend you replace the valves entirely. I would bet that replacing them would be close enough to the cost of rebuilding them, but yield you much better results.

If you really want it done right, and I think you should, then that’s the route I would recommend.

Were it a piston tuba, replating would be more feasible.

[catgrowlB]

It may just be that you need to have your rotor bearings swedged (tightened) by a good brass tech with the right tools. Old S-linkage can also be tightened/peened, and old clocksprings can either be rewound or replaced.