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I saved this one from our parts graveyard from work. I put some time into it to pretty it up a little and get the gnarly dents out. I though about turning this into a little five valve pit monster, but decided to finally join the Eb club. I have a soft spot for these little Conns since they are what I got my start on in middle school.
There is fair amount of plating wear on the valves, but with a medium to heavy weight oil it plays great. If you don't mind lipping some notes around the intonation is pretty great. With a little lapping and maybe some lighter grease, the slides could be more mobile. Since I am not wanting to keep this I figured I would leave that to the ultimate owners discretion.
This horn does not come with a case.
$900 OBO via PayPal, Venmo, wire, or cashier's check (or other certified funds).
I'm located in Frederick, MD and I am open to driving up to 150 miles to meet someone. Buyer pays shipping otherwise.
I had several questions regarding the valve wear so I added photos to the drive link. The condition of the valves is the main reason this horn is priced cheaply.
The worst of the wear is on 1 and 4, but the horn still has good compression and action with the right oil as previously mentioned.
Rudolf Meinl 5/4CC
Willson 3400FA-5 Eb
Besson New Standard Euph
S.E. Shires Bass w/ Greenhoe Valves
Repair shop cost on a set of those new BACH Mercedes pistons (c. .002" too large to fit Olds/Reynolds/Conn pre-1980 instruments) is roughly $500 for a set of four. Some repair peeps are generous, and a few might offer to purchase them "for a buddy" and only minimally mark them up.
To have one of the less-than-a-handful-of-peeps-in-the-USA hone the casings to fit those post-1980-manufactured "oversize" pistons would cost $____(??)
If someone is considering this route, it could still be a great deal, depending on the cost of that casing work...but they'd then own a mechanically-superb vintage instrument which is also a model which seems to consistently carry with it a very positive reputation.
I have a 2J in very rough cosmetic shape which I am not playing currently and the valves are in excellent shape with minimal wear. If anyone is interested, please PM me for pictures and we can discuss a price for just the valves. I'd be happy to ship those, but not the whole horn. Here's the important part.... I'm not sure if valves are switchable from one 2J to another, perhaps someone can chime in?
My first tuba I actually owned was a conn 3j. I miss it. Won a college scholarship with it. Traded it to get my PT4. They gave me a lot less than it was probably worth at custom music.
A well-preserved set of Olds O-99 pistons (ideally, from a smushed up instrument perhaps with also a destroyed bell) should replace 1-2-3 just fine (and I might be wrong or confused, but I'm thinking that 4 might be the same as one of the others) but the question is the condition of the casings.
Again, if the casings were beautifully honed a couple of thousands larger than the original inner diameters of them, a set of those Bach pistons - which Allied sells - would drop right in. Selmer USA made those pistons larger so that people wouldn't buy them as replacements for Olds.
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