Awesome post, I'm going to have to refer back to this. FWIW, I really enjoy reading your posts and your perspective as an actual gigging musician who makes music for a living is super interesting. Thanks. It's fun to get creative like this on gigs. I was always the last to load out, but it made the ...

It's a horn I'd totally replace the 12J with. Speaking of soldering, I realized that both my tubas have this thumb ring with a kind of flat brass strip made into a ring. Usually fine, but I realized I put a lot of weight on the thumb when standing, even if my left hand and strap are holding the ...

Oh! Here's the links that didn't copy over:

What a beaut now!

To come up with something that actually will scrub it really well - yet with virtually no risk of it getting stuck - is a pretty tall order. Use Zip ties and strip of plastic dish scrubber [like scotch-brite but safe for dishes] centered to get a push pull effect. :thumbsup ...

Copied my reddit post here, since it seems pertinent. This is a long post, but after a month-long stint with this band doing this, I'll never turn back. The only real downside is the load-in, so if you're in, say, NYC and using public transportation, this probably isn't a great idea. But it's ...

Three Valves wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2023 2:26 pm Did you get to take home the undrank beer?

I wish! Some great local beers were tried this month!

The visible part of the name in the photo makes me remember the instruments marketed on eBay under the “Selman” name. Their listings always encouraged you to make sure you were getting the real Selman instead of an imitation. I remember those! "This is a real Selman instrument. Not a cheap imi ...

That's what I thought, but at the same time, it's amazing how the perspective makes it look like it's like 16 inches or something.

LOL! And immediately after I posted my previous question, here's the thread about it!

You know, I saw some orchestra advertisement on Facebook a couple of days ago with a cimbasso player. I think it was you, and it had your name engraved on the bell. The bell looked huge! Is that a custom horn?

This looks to be about the size of an old-style King 2341, except with a valve block that appears to be adapted from an E-flat top-action valve block - something similar to a YEB-321 valve block, and with an elongated upper bow (thus: an open space in the lower bugle wrap)... I think it was based ...

I'm digging my Kanstul 900-4B, but I don't know if the issues I've worked through with it were me learning tuba chops or the instrument itself. It wants to sit on the lower end of the pitch, so I find myself lipping a few notes up, especially if I'm in a wind ensemble, which will inevitably start ...

I almost never take "before" pictures. It just occurs to me that everyone knows what a beat up tuba looks like with dents and creases, busted solder joints, jacked sideways stuff, etc. True, but it's kinda neat to see how much work went into it. Don't most of the really straight condition 4-valve ...

Did you get some before shots so that we can see a before/after comparison? My 12J is getting the valveset overhauled right now. Seems a waste of money for such an old horn, but it's discontinued, and overhauling one I already have was much cheaper than buying another one that may or may not need ...

Beer, brats, and pretzels!

Better (in my view) is to regularly run really generous amounts of lamp oil through the mouthpipe - after having it chemically cleaned. If it is oiled just about every time you play, it's unlikely to gather any scale or even much filth. That's a lot of work, but a unique solution. I just am going ...

Yeah, that linked one does look basically useless compared to price. I bet there's a better cleaning snake that's not marketed towards musicians that's a fraction of that cost. It's so funny how much a product can get marked up when saying you can use it on a musical instrument.

Do they exist? Ready to buy a new snake but it seems most are just trombone snakes. They're good for the lead pipe...and that's about it. They never seem big enough for anything after the first valve tubing.

I do have a bottle brush, but that obviously doesn't get around corners and turns well.