For those that don't know me, I'm not a professional repair person in any way, shape, or form. I am a band teacher for a living, and do this as a hobby. I've learned a lot from folks on here and elsewhere online over the years and enjoy trying these projects on my own as much as possible. I've ended up with what I think is a really nice five-valved Eb tuba from trying this Frankentuba stuff for myself (I call it my King-Conn). It's been a lot of fun. I think I'll call this one a Conn-King.
This project started when I looked around my basement and saw that I had a valveset from a donated 14K sousaphone, and a useable bell and bottom bow from a Conn Giant Eb. I have some inner bows from a 12J, but thought those would be too "skinny" (and the dogleg is way smaller than the large side of the MTS of the sousaphone valveset). I was able to get some King 12/2340/41 bows to use as the body. I was hoping to have all Conn parts, but oh well.
Here is the Conn Giant Eb:
Here is a rough mock up with the King bows and a spare valveset laying on top:
I love the internet! I was able to find someone with a spare valveset. I'll use this to build the 4th valve circuit:
I've started disassembling the valveset:
Here are how the crooks started:
Here's where I was able to get them after some annealing and dent work:
I had someone expand the top bow of the King to fit the ferrule of the bottom bow from the Conn Eb. I bought one of the prefilled leadpipes from Allied. I'll eventually need to procure a 5th valve. Other than that, I think I've got just about everything I need to build this. I might need to beg for some braces along the way, but we'll see!
