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Hi

I wanted to share some modifications I have done to optimize the playing of this Besson.
- doug elliot screw rim made to fit a Wick 3L. I do not like the Wick rim and with the full DE setup it was tricky to play very soft and the lower was not as open as I would like. To me this mod is the best of both worlds

- trigger on the first slide. There is not much room to pull by hand, so an auto return trigger was the solution here

- 3rd slide was out alignment

- slides 2, 4, mts and comp slide where to loose, they have been expanded. That greatly impacted response and fullness of sound

- shortened the MTS for pitch

- glued a piece of cork on the 4th valve finger button for easier fingering from for example from 2/4 to 2/3

The four valve front action E flat tubas (both Besson and Eastman) are good playing tubas, but I just can't manage to physically embrace the "pinky anchor" fingering system - when it comes to four valve compensating.

With the four valve compensating system, the fourth valve becomes more of an F attachment (with the adjusted slide positions being automatic, rather than hand-adjusted - as with a trombone), and I just prefer to be like a trombonist and operate the F attachment with the other hand (per the traditional setup).

It may be more of a mental thing than anything else. I've own so many tubas in all four of the customary lengths with all sorts of fingering systems. Maybe it's just that I'm old and crotchety and don't want to learn yet another fingering system at point in my life.

All of those modifications you've done look useful to me. I've never purchased a factory-built tuba that didn't need several things done to it to make it better. (Had I done all the things to someone's else tuba that I did to my model 98 Miraphone, I would have charged them a ton of money, because each thing I did took a considerable amount of time, YET - were that instruments suddenly back to the way it was when I first had it, my first reaction today would surely be ""YIKES!".) If they did all that stuff at the factories, they would have to charge a lot more and most people probably wouldn't like all or any of the built-in features that they would include.

Thanks :). I got the inspiration for the trigger from your modifications to that big BBb! Nice and simple & light weight!

Cost where ok…
100 for the mpc rim and 200 for the other mods

I don't think I could ever get used to having the pinky control the 4th valve.

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