Don't try to understand 'em; Just rope an' throw an' brand 'em

[bloke]

Here's the three-braces-broken-off-this-small-bore-main-tuning-slide-tube from a Jupiter 378 (pretty much, a Yamaha 105 knockoff).

IMHO, Jupiter has too damn much stuff that unscrews and slips apart (by design) on this model...and all that stuff gets loose, the young scholars don't give a crap, and these instruments end up in pieces...

...but here's an exception:

Jupiter decided to make the mouthpipe completely detachable, and to slip an inside tube (soldered to the bottom of it) into the TOP of the smaller-bore size of the main tuning slide...

That insert (lime) became hopelessly stuck, the main slide ended up stuck (I somehow managed to free the main slide), and the three one-piece braces all ended up being busted (nope: not by me).

Jupiter had the braces in stock (which is cool), but not the tube.

I found a tube from a 1970's formerly-chrome-over-nickel-over brass small marching GG contra. Yes, I had this tube (along with the parts that I actually needed for a project) stripped.

This Olds tube was about .007" too loose, so I shrunk it down with a shrinking tool, I moved the Jupiter tension ring over to the (cut-to-length) Olds tube (now: the correct i.d.), cut the necessary slot for the tension ring, went back to the ORIGINAL tube, peeled the original tube back like a sardine can, and extracted the inside/insert tube (which can now be soldered back to the bottom of the detachable mouthpipe.

People who do summer/school repairs are a bunch of hacks.

OK...fine. I'll take the money, and you can clean someone's Bach trumpet and replace the spit corks.




REMINDER PIC:
Here are the three replacement braces...

[bloke]

Completing this tuba (which seemed innocent enough, before I realized how messed up it was) marks the completion of another school system.
Mrs. bloke finished her last instruments for TWO school systems (this one and one that I had already finished) today as well.
Today - for this school system - she finished her last baritone sax (an old dog Bundy). For a PREVIOUS school system, she FINALLY discovered why a (also dog-Bundy) piccolo wouldn't quite play right...There was a friggin' CRACK in the plastic headjoint...Fortunately, it was repairable with glue, as the crack ran horizontally, rather than across the headjoint.

This innocent-looking little tuba was a MESS, and - not only did I have to reinstall the hidden little main tuning slide (with three new non-adjustable braces) so that it would work (after freeing all the HORRIBLY stuck slides on this instrument), I also had to put this little main tuning slide PRECISELY where it had been before, so that the mouthpipe tubes TWO detachable braces would line back up with their counterparts soldered to the bell.

oh yeah...and - just before the mouthpipe receiver, the back half of the mouthpipe had been concavely flattened against the bell, so I had to repair that as well (also without changing the curvature of the mouthpipe for all the reasons above). I suppose I COULD HAVE not addressed that damage, but - right there towards the small end of the mouthpipe tube - that concave damage was over 50%.

now...?? (coffee-ed up, hot bath...toot on my new-to-me-sousaphone for about two minutes, and then practice on the tubas for a little bit).

[bloke]

I'm shoehorning in a new customer which is just a high school for now. They have two beat up St Pete's, and they handed me a beat up King contra. There's also a bassoon that had a snatched off long joint maple tenon, and Mrs. bloke is working on that.

I've worked on a few Jinbao contras - reinforcing their mouth pipes with double thickness tubing, I've worked on one Yamaha, and I don't really remember what I did with that one, and I think this is my first King. There aren't many of these contra things around here.

Looking at the quality of the repair work rendered to it in the past, I couldn't help wondering whether it was some individual or someone who worked at a store, and - if it was someone at a store - if they had worked there for more than a couple of months, why weren't they fired (?).

Anyway, I took it apart and put it back together about as right as it can be. I'm going to drag Mrs bloke out there - after she finishes making me one of these garden-fresh smoothies, and I'm going to have her help supervise while I get these tenuous bell braces stuck back down... honestly, those braces don't look strong enough to do any good, but they look like factory braces so that's what they get.

UPDATE...
The King contra-thing is all straightened out and back together. Mrs. bloke helped me "convince" the bottom bow (which had been ovaled, and the large side tenon was hangin' out at a crazy angle) and braces back to their original locations (as young scholars had previously convinced those things otherwise).
I picked it up (eek !!!) and played it just a little bit.
I'm quittin' the band, dammit !!!
What an absurd athletic event.
ie. "Here: Hold this"
me: "SH!T !!!"
them again: "Now, play stuff on it."

[bloke]

The way this King Contra was jacked around, when I finished repairing it the bell.flare was even closer to the upper bow - even though some of the straightening that I did defined that the bell would extend out slightly farther past the upper bow, but then I realized that out also removed dents from the upper bow that were previously about an inch deep. LOL

[bloke]

I stuck the King contra in its case several hours ago, straightened out a St. Pete, and have one more St. Pete left to call this (small batch for one new-customer high school) "done". (Mrs. bloke has to finish up that snapped-off-tenon bassoon's long joint.)

I kept staring at the contra, because it just didn't look "right" to me - even though I (unless whomever worked on it last) put everything back on the factory placements (solder joint witness marks).

I finally realized that - even though it's SORT OF like a tuba, it's actually SHAPED more like a bazooka...and then (ok...) I'm cool with that.

[bloke]

I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel after replacing (7) braces on an eastern European rotary tuba.

There's one US importer, and - responsibly - they stock parts.

When I wrote up a quote to repair this, I took a quick look around the instrument (in the barn - lighting is OK, but not ideal) and found three or four broken braces. I took pictures, they quoted me a price, charged me a reasonable price for three or four braces, and send me a jingling zip lock with around a DOZEN braces in it.

Either they saw stuff in the background (in those pictures) that I did not see, or they knew from experience that - "Hey, if THOSE are broken, then THESE are probably broken as well..." because I will have needed/used SEVEN out of the dozen.

This one isn't as dented as was the first of the pair of these, but seriously...all of these (one-piece) braces...

...but most of them have been sorta-close to fitting, and any schmoozing that I had to do is probably related to careless handling by young scholars.

I appreciate the baggie of braces !!!

Once this one's completely done, I'll be done with this school, and will only be waiting for Mrs. bloke and that bassoon long joint work.

==========================================

After this is only ONE MORE school system (middle/high). They have about seven sousaphones, ten other march-a-things (including a couple of bass trombones...yes - really) and there are around four tubas for the middle school.

After that, there's a major university with around SEVENTY-FIVE instruments that are needed by the first or second week of August, then those concert instruments (two dozen, including a few woodwinds) and then (other then re-damage and stuff peeps didn't realize was damaged) we will have cleared out the barn...

LOL...only 130 instruments to go.

[bloke]

I made an adjustable thumb ring for a St Pete. Hell no I'm not going to show it to you... made it in only 10 minutes. It works but it's not pretty.

[bloke]

LOL...
I charged a lot to fix the stuff that was wrong with this four valve Jupiter sousaphone, and earned the money.
I suspect a whole bunch of other people - when they came across the thing that I discovered today (that I did not discover when quoting on this instrument) - would have emailed the band director and told them that they need to buy a piston.

[bloke]

All six of the sousaphones are done for the last large school system order, and what are remaining are ten "smalls" (euphonium and smaller) along with four middle school instruments (mostly tubas).

Going back to the previous school system (small number of instruments) here are the seven busted braces that were replaced on one of the two St. Petes they handed me to fix:

(Most of one of those braces was missing.)

[bloke]

By the time I decided to call it quits last night - as far as secondary school repairs remaining in the building, I was down to three euphoniums, four marching baritones, a trombone, and three tubas. Maybe (??), I can call all the secondary school stuff done today, get the band directors organized at all the different schools, get them all loaded up Monday, and get them all out of here.

I'm trying to decide if I deserve one day off to maybe go visit a friend up in Missouri...
Otherwise, I could get out and mow, but I think the remnants of that hurricane are coming through here, so it's going to be too wet, once again.

[bloke]

blasted through all the rest of those (non-sousaphonic) high school instruments before lunch, am eating a leftover July 4th grilled chicken back, will go back out and hit the (same district) four middle school instruments (trombone and three tubas), call it a day (after all, it's Saturday, where many of y'all take a break), and tomorrow I'm going to do some magic on that 10K/32K sousaphone that I'm trading for a good-playing/not-beat-up Elkhart 20K. (Mrs. bloke agreed to chem-clean it, while I'm ironing out, polishing, and re-lacquering the bell. After that, I'll "magnetize" body dents and do a few body bow lacquer area touch-ups. (This trade is with the same high school I just finished, this morning.)...
...This school is about 1:15 one-way (3-hr. r/t with chit-chat) so I'd prefer to drop off the trade sousaphone with their repairs on the SAME TRIP (Mon. or Tues.)

They will like the 10K/32K sousaphone:

- 26-inch bell (apparently special order...??), just like their Kings and Jupiters
- sounds really good
- body (and sound) is closer to the size of their other sousaphones
- It's still heavier than (even) their Jupiters (as Jupiters are not lightweight), but it's lighter than a 20K.

[bloke]

I'm on my last secondary school tuba (last secondary schools instrument - period) tonight. It's one of a pair of garbage rotary tubas that a former band director purchased who didn't know any better. It's just incredibly crummy. I don't think it's Jinbao, I think it's from a factory inferior (at least. back when they were made) to Jinbao. The paddles are lacquered brass, not even an effort to nickel plate them or anything. The mouthpipe is copper. These come in once a year all torn up and I cobble them back together for the next year...both of them. I got the worst of the pair - which is this last one - where everything's working, and I just need to go back and unsmash it to call it done.
We're sort of proud of ourselves for getting all the secondary school instruments - including even the middle school instruments, which were often put off to the end - done around ten days before anyone's band camp begins, and we're already into the university and community college instruments.

One of these high schools schools is trading us a good playable 20K for a sort of special instrument which possibly would have been called a special order "10K", because it has a 26-in bell. It's more of a size match for all of their Jupiters and Kings, so they are interested in trading. Tomorrow, I'm going to spend all day making this 10K thing look decent, so when they get it they'll be pleased with the trade, and I'm really interested in getting it all done tomorrow (so I can only make one trip way over to their school dropping off repairs as well as dropping off this trade sousaphone), which is pretty far away.

I'd like to get all these secondary schools' instruments delivered Monday (several schools) if it can be worked out, and tear into the university stuff Monday afternoon or Tuesday. Mrs bloke and I are talking about a day trip to go visit @cktuba next weekend if it works out - sort of as a reward for making good progress. He's got a family member not feeling well today, so say some prayers for the CK family.

[bloke]

That last crappy rotary tuba was a little bit of a booger. Nothing gave me trouble, but it just had a bunch of things needed to be done to it, and I just didn't feel like getting out there until after lunch on a Sunday.

The trade Conn sousaphone is acid cleaned, I've ironed the bell out and buffed the tarnish and dead lacquer off the bell interior and elbow. I need to buff the outside of the bell, hit the whole thing with some jewelers rouge, and shoot lacquer on it tomorrow. The body just needs to have the dents magneted out, and I'm going to touch up a few areas on the body bows (lacquer). Also tomorrow I'm going to try to line up band directors for Tuesday deliveries instead of Monday, since I ran out of gas on this trade Conn sousaphone slicking out job, and didn't get it completed today.

Even though the nitrocellulose lacquer on this bell - which was relacquered sometime - is pretty much dead, it's surprisingly stubborn, so for the outside I'm going to use some of my precious/rarely-spent lacquer stripper on it, as well as going back over the elbow interior to strip a few spots that were stubborn.

I want this band director to be really pleased with this instrument. They're going to get a slightly lighter weight instrument that's closer to the size of their Kings and Jupiters, and they're going to end up with an instrument with a shiny bell - instead of a brown one, and a sort of shiny body - instead of a brown one. There's something else that I'd like to point out about this 10K/32K: There wasn't a single broken solder joint on it when I received it: Not one, and not a single one had ever been resoldered. Every single solder joint held for about 65 years, even though it has a bunch of pretty good size dents in the outer body branches. The lower mouthpipe was bent over, but all four of the solder joints on those two cast braces held.

The purpose of trading should always be to benefit both parties, and never for one to cheat the other.

[bloke]

This is the 10K/32K trading-for-a-20K sousaphone...

According to the hourly forecast, at midnight the temperature is supposed to drop down to around 77 degrees...so I can probably color-buff this bell without dropping perspiration on it around midnight.
(At least, the dents, creases, cuts, deep tarnish, old lacquer, and corrosion are gone, and it's READY to color-buff.)
The hurricane remnants are already in Memphis (rain) and there's already a light breeze here.
If I have to, I'll add a buttload of drying retarder to the lacquer, lacquer this INSIDE the barn, and pray.






As can be seen, I pulled a couple of the dented upper returns for dent removal, I've magnet-ed out most of the body dents, and I'll be polishing the bad-looking areas (finish) on the large bows - as well as the (as seen in the second picture) new lower mouthpipe.






Important:
When you vibrate your lips into a sousaphone - making a good sound, take the instrument away, and sustain the mouth shape, muscles tension, and air precisely as they were before the sousaphone was taken away, the sound STOPS, and the lips do NOT "buzz".

[bloke]

6:20 P.M...

I went ahead and color-buffed the bell, and got the body ready to spot lacquer (where I buffed "brown ugly" away, and left the ok-looking 1960 factory lacquer).

I had about 1/2 inch of lacquer in the cup (Binks sprayer) left over from I-can't-remember, added another inch and added (no thinner, but) drying retarder ONLY until the lacquer ran off my dent hammer handle for two seconds until dripping (bloke's scientific lacquer-mixin' test).

The bell's color buffing job wasn't the most gorgeous ever, but very good and the surface of the bell was a bit "ruddy" from what oxidation had done to it over time (and I wasn't willing to spend the time and energy to ruin the bell by buffing away half the metal). ...so the "good enough" color buffing job looked just as good as a perfect one - in this case...The reason for "good enough" was so that I wouldn't get hot enough to begin dropping salty sweat on the shiny bell. Luckily, the lacquer went on beautifully (no runs, and almost no dust). It TRIED to blush, but the drying retarder allowed the humidity (trapped under the lacquer during the spraying process) to percolate to the surface and away.

...and yes, I remembered to run masking tape around the tenon.

...so I went ahead and did this because
- I desperately wanted a hot bath, and it's dumb to bathe before planning on buffing again early the next morning.
- The hurricane cloud cover (no rain here yet, though over in Memphis) dropped the temperature down to 85°F., and the humidity is (albeit high - 68%) low enough to "fight" it (again) via drying retarder.

[bloke]

"trade" sousaphone is assembled, tested, and loaded.
note to self:
The 20K BODY is here, but - when I drop off the 10K/32K trade sousaphone - I need to pick up the 20K BELL from the school (which is a 3-hr. r/t from here).

[bloke]

I'm reminded of the M.A.S.H. television show term, :"meatball surgery".

I bend over backwards to have all the right stuff to put back on all these instruments - rather than improvising (which costs $XXXX), but there are things left undone that I would obviously do for myself or for an individual customer who would be interested in bringing their instrument up to the highest level. It's a matter of a combination of time limitations for me and money limitations for them. These schools' young scholars do a ton of damage and they each shell out significant funds to have all of these destroyed instruments cobbled back together as well as possible and as quickly as possible, but it's just not practical for them to shell out epic funds to get everything in absolute perfect perfect perfect shape, and - even if they threw that type of money at me - there's no way that I could get all these instruments done for them in a handful of weeks. If I hired more people, a whole bunch of these instruments would end up more messed up than they were before they came in. People think that all we have to do is "train" someone, but when they think about their own skills, they know that their own skills involve a whole lot more than "training". Consider this nonsense: "Since this orchestra is short on violinists, let's just 'train' up some more."

Maybe I should just use AI.

[bloke]

Back home after adding an additional stop or two, exhausted yet not covered with buffing dirt today and officially having another 20K to add to the collection of 20Ks.

I demonstrated the trade sousaphone for them. What I like to do with band directors is to play some stuff that sounds really quite good, finish with a nice broad resonant double low B-flat, and then show them that I'm chewing gum. Yes, I did that today.
I also wadded up some masking tape that was taping the necks and bits to a couple of repaired sousaphones, threw the wad of tape 75 feet across the band room to a waste can, and hit the rim.. darn it.

[bloke]

I've got two pint size cups of coffee down... I guess that's a quart, and it's about time to put my washed trousers and shirt (that I wore buffing that sousaphone bell) back on (after Mrs bloke soaked them in super cleanser called Purple Power and then washed them), and I'm going to start tearing into university sousaphones today.

Like I said earlier, Mrs bloke does the most annoying woodwinds first (which are the tiniest), and I do the most annoying brass first (which are the largest).

If I'm pleased with my progress this week on this very (very) large group of instruments, I think I might reward myself and Mrs bloke by doing a day trip on Sunday to go visit with @cktuba a few hours north of here. (We also recently visited him during the total eclipse - which passed just about directly over his house with an amazing view, which determined that the total coverage lasted several minutes. It was just astonishing to see that a total eclipse actually looks like it does in pictures, and that those pictures are not doctored up.

On loan, he temporarily has a piston Fafner there (which was my runner-up model choice of very large B flat tuba), and I think it would be fun to take my instrument up there and compare them back to back. Don't look for any sort of blather regarding that. I view most reviews of instruments' playing characteristics as pretty much meaningless, so I don't believe I should assault and bore the tuba forum (via words such as "teutonic", "core", "dark", "lively", etc. ) with one of those.

[bloke]

LOL...

JUST NOW heading out to work on sousaphones...' spent the last two hours invoicing schools - along with calling some of the schools' bookkeepers and explaining band-director-caused anomalies/discrepancies, prior to submitting invoices...

...sigh...

bloke "I DO LIKE talking with bookkeepers, BECAUSE they CAN keep up with numbers discussed VERBALLY - over the phone. "