1895 Conn Eb, Take 2

[bort2.0]

Moving on...

I had meant to ask, What's involved in fixing a split rim like this? Maybe "fix" is the wrong word... My goal is for it to not get worse, and don't want it to cut me. An actual "repair", if it's even possible, is not going to be worth it.

The other stuff, fixing braces and overall making it a a little less fragile, I can understand all that and it all makes sense. But I don't really know what's involved in stabilizing the bell rim.

I'll probably take it to someone and set a $500 budget and see what can be done. It might be another year or two before I get to that point (maybe longer), but I do feel somewhat resolved to getting it stabilized and a bit more functional.

[bloke]

If you sold that for $200 - $300 and put the $500 with it, you'd be $800 closer to buying some sort of viable tuba.

Every once in awhile, I see (even) new style King 2341 tubas for under $4,000.

Comparing that ancient Conn tiny E flat in playing condition, how much more sonically viable and practical would be an ugly/good-playing-condition old King brass sousaphone?

I'm not suggesting buying an ugly old King brass sousaphone, but only encouraging you to think about what a particular amount of money can accomplish.

I could see myself using a King sousaphone on quite a few types of things. (I took one to a community band rehearsal one time and was sort of giggling at how well it was playing all of the music in the folder, compared to a $24,000 tuba that I also owned.)

As far as a sub-3/4 size E-flat tuba is concerned, if it (hopefully?) offered good tuning characteristics, about the only times I could imagine using it would be some really special pieces of music.... maybe the Ingolf Dahl "Music for Brass" (??) possibly the Böhme "Sextet for Brass" (??)...(you know: stuff we might play once in our lifetimes or twice) but it would also need four valves and a way to play 2-4 valve combination flat enough.

I'm not suggesting saving up for and buying a cheap ugly brown King sousaphone, but I'm just trying to make a point that I question the usefulness of what you have (in good playing condition) versus things that wouldn't cost much more in good playing condition.

The Conn sports pretty engraving - and might look nice on the wall, but do you have time to dust it?

[bort2.0]

All fair points, and the goal is not a delusion of what this tuba is or could be. More like, getting a super old car restored enough to appear in the 4th of July parade. Something for people to see and gawk at that it still exists and remains functional at some level. But not many expectations that it's doing anything else until the next year.

[gocsick]

I hear ya on that. But I learned the hard way that money can't fix s lot of problems with old Ebs... I put a spendy 3+1, rebuilt by Anderson's, valveset on my old Holton Eb only to learn that it didn't fix any of the horrid intonation or other playing characteristics of the thing.. It is a fun instrument and a cool Frankentuba talking point.. but it is absolutely horrible to play anywhere except my basement.

[bloke]

Offered to me in the past:

a genuine Hofner "Beatle bass" with case ($200).

I turned it down.

It played like crap.
Nothing really needed to be fixed.
Those were just crap.
McCartney's bass lines were matter-of-fact, and - yes - matter-of-fact bass lines can be played on one of those...
...but it didn't take him too long to move to a Rick.
yes...I know that he would play that Hofner - off-and-on - throughout his career.
(What do you bet that he spent more-than-you-nor-I-would-ever-spend to make that thing playable?)

How much would it have cost me to make that GENUINE Hofner "Beatle bass" into a "good" instrument?
How often would I have used it?
(I couldn't really march in 4th of July parades with it, convincing myself that others' thought it was cool...)


NOT a Hofner



Surely, the analogy is obvious enough, and not this:

[donn]

Since no one seems interested in answering your question, here's Robb Steward on a replacement bell rim. Complete replacement, and I imagine that trimming off the old rim would be a large part of the job. Bell Rim Replacement

[bloke]

yes Mr. Donn, but that's (basically) a disguised (44-inch to 63-inch long) "patch" (tuba, not trumpet)

When someone shows a (former 22 inch) 6/4 York tuba with a bell cut down to 20 inches (even if the instrument wasn't totally ruined by being cut to C)...

...lead-soldering a ring of brass rod to a bell (even if perfectly round and perfectly centered) without the sheet brass being wrapped AROUND the brass rod is (at least and certainly for me) a non-starter.

but yes, you answered his question and (no criticism/no sarcasm/no nothing) I commend you for staying on-topic.

It's DIFFICULT (as the person affecting this is having to deal with a brass or steel rod, sheet brass, and - nearly always - an air space - the three of which heat at TOTALLY different rates of speed), but I've silver brazed broken rims back together. Of course, it ruins lacquer and (if silver) melts the silver plating off the brass in the immediate area.

ugly/cheap: I've seen where people have wrapped sheet brass around such a crack and lead-soldered that over the crack.
I've taken hollow brass tubing, cut it long-ways, spread it, and lead-soldered it over rim cracks. (It's still a weak spot, because the sheet brass isn't anywhere close to as strong as was the steel or brass rod within the rim.)

[bort2.0]

You know, all these years I thought George was the bass player. (Not joking.)