iiipopes wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 3:54 pm To narrow down the number of models it could be, please measure the diameter of the bell tenon and ring.

Customer has the bell and is on vacation, so I can't check, but the 'female' part of the bell receiver (horn body) is 6.09 inches in diameter.

arpthark wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:41 am Could it be a 32K? Do you have the serial #?

SN is 879182

Pretty sure it's not a 14K. The other two pistons measure 1.0535". Allied sells replacement pistons for the 14K measuring 1.045"; significantly smaller. Any other guesses as to the model?

I'm only a fledgling bassist, but I enjoy playing through a larger speaker much more than the dinky thing I practice on. And...as for 'technique', bandmates often encourage me to "dig in" more, meaning (to me), more front end on the note. Please feel free to advise & recommend as needed. :teeth:

He also ran the Wessex showroom in Roselle (just outside Chicago) for awhile. Always nice to deal with, and sorry to see this befall him.

iiipopes wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 10:51 am
You are not developing the true fundamental.

Also known as "aliasing". Very, very little of the tuba's low range is fundamental. It's mostly upper overtones, and the brain 'imagines' the fundamental from those. Check it out on an oscilloscope.

It started as a BBb; they wanted a CC, so I made one for them. As for marketing, they don't seem awfully good at it, so it may not ever be really available in the US.

Can anyone pretty please positively identify this model sousa? Pretty sure it's a Conn, but ... Right now it's got a very wrong 3rd valve, so need to source the correct one for this model. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

bloke wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2026 10:03 am Lee has put together two or three

According to his company page, he's finishing #11 right now, but that might be out of date.

My suggestion would be to first remove the thumb ring entirely. They serve no real purpose, and force your hand into a shape which might not fit you. If that doesn't make the horn much more comfortable, any tech worth their salt should be able to silver solder together a new lever which actually ...

Adding a little context: here's the owner of the ZO plant, after challenging me to break one of his ABS student tubas.

You mean these things? In my estimation, they're by far the best "mini tubas", although in all fairness, they're quite a bit larger than the Wessex or MW ones. Way more tuba-ish sound, much better intonation, and they don't "blow back at you". They come in BBb, CC, Eb and F.



ZO.jpg

Maybe ...

I once saw the score to an arrangement of a Beethoven Symphony (5 I think) for modern instrumentation by Gustav Mahler. Musicians adapt, arrange, re-orchestrate other people's music all the time, so changing Dvorak 9 isn't a novel concept. "Appropriate" is a far more flexible term than "what a ...

Rather than looking at the mouth pipe suddenly being smaller and basing an assumption that it's bad on its looks and measurements, has anyone taken one apart, made a duplicate with a more consistent bore, made both of them quickly detachable and re-attachable, and then A/B'ed them?

Could there be ...

People freak out about the location of the 5th valve (same as Yamaha) but (hey...) I wonder if they ALSO pay attention to the playing characteristics.


It woulda been great if they hadn't put this big ol', totally unnecessary "step" into the 5th throughout the entire production run. :eyes ...

Toby Hanks

I took lessons from Toby for a while in college, near the end of my time there. He was such a nice person and a fantastic teacher.


I had Toby for my Masters at Manhattan School. Unfortunately, he was in the depths of his dystonia and it deeply affected his teaching. Comments like ...

SO much potential! Love the squat, tightly coiled body.

russiantuba wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 12:05 pm Then again, on this forum, you have the most full time orchestral and freelancing experience than anyone else.

If ya mean that I've got a lot of mileage on me, guilty as charged.

russiantuba wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 6:58 pm If you are in the DFW area, I would highly recommend Dr. Austin Crumrine.

I can heartily second this suggestion. Great player (tuba, acoustic- and electric bass), great guy, and former student o' mine.

What I've seen on several occasions is horns where some factory doofus soldered on a leadpipe under tension, so it deformed the 1st valve casing. You can find out if this is the case by just slightly flexing the large end of the leadpipe and see if the sticking changes for the better.