Introducing Myself to this Fine Forum!

[PlayTheTuba]

Hello! My Name is Raffi A. I currently own three tubas. The first one is a Salvation Army "Triumphonic" low pitch Eb that I added extensions to play in the key of D. Intonation for the "D tuba" is not good in its current state. The second tuba is a beat up King 1241 BBb with the upright bell. I do not own the recording (bell front) for the 1241. The last is a King Pit BBb tuba that I will eventually work on so I can play it. I am also going to be getting a B&S 4097 (PT20) rotary CC soon. Once I receive that tuba I will no longer need the King 1241. On the other forum, assuming the imgur link is still accessible, more pictures of my D tuba exist.

My D tuba to share online.png (197.17 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

Salvation Army "Triumphonic" low pitch Eb. Currently plays in D.

King 1241 to share online.png (199.72 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

King 1241 BBb with upright bell.

King Pit Tuba to share online.png (198.96 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

King Pit BBb tuba

[Lee Stofer]

PlayThe Tuba,
Welcome to the forum!

Concerning your Salvation Army tuba, I would suggest that having a repairman remove and accurately cut the
slide tubes, then resolder the slide tubes, would bring the instrument up to pitch, and if the valves have sufficient
compression, this should be a quite good player. I worked on a BBb version several years ago, and found it to be a
fabulous player.

[York-aholic]

Cool Pit tuba and Welcome!

[PlayTheTuba]

The King Pit Tuba does look dope!

It seems like whoever played the Salvation Army tuba in the past already shortened the main slide, but I suppose I should ask a repairman to shorten it further. Seeing as the pitch is quite wonky in its current form. I got the Salvation Army tuba from eBay many years ago, I think it said that tuba was made in the 1930s?

The horn was obviously not used in a long time when I got it, and had a big dent on the side too. Took the Salvation Army tuba to a repairman and then it became very pretty. The valves have no plating left but the compression is quite good though. It also has a Euphonium medium instead of a bass trombone shank... I got a Dennis Wick 2 Heritage mouthpiece that fits the receiver. I think it plays well overall.

[PlayTheTuba]

Welcome!

[DonO.]

Welcome! That King Pit Tuba looks so cool. I remember a discussion on those a while back based on a picture in an old ad. Many of us had never seen one. Cool to see an actual example.

If I owned that I would probably take it to a shop and get it de-dented, at least those couple of big ones. Not trying to tell you what you should do, just saying’.

[WC8KCY]

Welcome, Raffi!

[prairieboy1]

Welcome to our site! You have a very nice collection of horns there!!

[bort2.0]

Those pit tubas are something else! How long have you had it, and how did you come across it?

[PlayTheTuba]

I believe I've owned the King pit tuba for about 3-4 years. I wanted to learn how to repair brass instruments but instead I'm trying to get a a degree in I.T. The gentleman that I took tuba lessons up until highschool gave to me as a gift so I could try to essentially repair it. If I'm not confusing my teachers story he said that it was given to him by a kids parents thinking the kid was going to actually play the tuba but well didn't. I'm not sure how long my teacher owned the pit tuba but he had it for as long as I can remember.

I did order King sousaphone bits for it. But it only needs one of them... Had I known and if a Conn sousaphone bit would have worked I would preferred those since they're interchangeable unlike King bits.

Ultimately I would probably end up letting the repair tech remove the dents since I don't have the tools for it... But I might try to see if I could get the big dent below the bell closer to the intended shape... Just to live part a dream

Also, do you guys know about how much the main tuning slide needs to be shortened for the low pitch Eb to be brought up to pitch? I think I was asked that question the first time when I took the S.A. tuba in.

[royjohn]

If you pull the tuning slide on the tuba and look at what a tuner does, maybe you can get it to go down a half tone. Measure how far out it is and that is an estimate of how much will need to be cut off. It will be close, but probably a little too much. Just measure from all the way in to a half tone out.
royjohn

[Heavy_Metal]

Welcome, @PlayTheTuba !

That pit tuba is a bit unusual, but you knew that. Joe Tarto, of the Cities Service Band of America, played one, and here's my favorite recording of this band:

[PlayTheTuba]

Thank you and that is nice tune. Played very nicely.

To pull out the tuning slide a half tone, do you mean until I reach D natural or half way between Eb and D. If it's the former than I need to remove same amount of tubing as the entire tuning slide

[bloke]

I like the "D tuba" thing...

I've joked around (jazz band gigs - partrons in ships' lounges, etc...) with my (rare/detachable bell) comp. E-flat - removing the bell and playing it (just around right "on the money") in E (sure: I wore the recording bell on my head - for additional laughs), but...
...I've made some extensions to more seriously experiment with playing my C tuba in B, and (very recent thread) I made a tight curly-que (similar to early 20th Century high pitch/low pitch auxiliary loops) to drop one of my B-flat tubas to A.

I like to play through passages (which are otherwise in awkward-to-button-mash keys) and determine whether they're easier-to-play and just-as-well-in-tune with the instrument a semitone longer.

fwiw, the B-flat tuba plays Walkürenritt in a considerably more "hand-familiar" key (and just as well in-tune) with the instrument's open length lowered to A.

[DonO.]

Taken to the logical extreme, one could have 12 different tubas, one for each key. Just learn one set of fingerings and choose the appropriate instrument!

[bloke]

Taken to the logical extreme, one could have 12 different tubas, one for each key. Just learn one set of fingerings and choose the appropriate instrument!

Thanks so much! That's so helpful.